Dr D K Desai joined the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1963 as Professor. He was closely associated with Prof Matthai from the time the latter joined the Institute as Director. Prof Matthai appointed him as Leader of the Agriculture and Cooperative (AgCo) Group. It was Dr Desai who helped developing the AgCo Group into a full-fledged Centre for Management in Agriculture (CMA). He was Chairman of CMA till 1973 when he was appointed as GSFC Chair Professor. He joined World Bank in 1975 as Agricultural and Rural Development Adviser to the Government of Liberia; rejoined the institute in 1980, and retired in 1983 on superannuation.

Besides several books and reports, Dr Desai has written and published numerous articles in leading journals specialising on agricultural management and agricultural economics. His Ph.D. thesis research work was published by the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics.

Date of Birth: 17th June 1924