Dwijendra Tripathi (29 July 1930 – 5 September 2018) was a professor of business history at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad where he worked for more than 25 years. He is considered the "Father of Business History" in India.^[1]

Dwijendra was born on 29 July 1930 in a village in Azamgarh district, Uttar Pradesh, while India was still under British colonial rule. He got a First Class in his Class XII exams in the Arts stream.^[2] He studied at the University of Allahabad where he received his Bachelor of Arts in history, economics, and English literature in 1952 and his Master of Arts in history in 1954.^[2] He graduated in 1963 from the University of Wisconsin where he pursued a Ph.D. in comparative economic history - India & U.S. as a Fulbright scholar. He was married to his wife Saraswati for more than fifty years, and had three children- Tushar, Parimal, and Smita.^[2] He died on 5 September 2018, which is also the day India celebrates Teachers' Day.^[3]

From August 1954 to April 1964, he worked at the department of history and political science, D.N.J. College, University of Jabalpur.^[4] In May 1964, he moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) to work at the State Bank of India as a Research Officer in their Historical Research Department.^[2] In July 1964 he joined the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad where he chose to teach in the Economics educational area.^[2] He was sent by the institute to the Harvard Business School, which had a tie-up with IIMA, for the International Teachers Programme for a year in 1964.^[5] While at IIMA, he was on numerous committees, was the PGP Chairperson for four years, and was also dean for four years.^[5] He joined the Board of Governors of IIMA as a faculty representative in the 1980s.^[2]

In the summers of 1961, 1962, and 1963 respectively, he worked as an instructor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, George Washington University and Howard University, and University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.^[4] He was a research assistant at University of Wisconsin from 1961-1962 and 1962-1963.^[4] In 1970, he was visiting professor at the Department of American Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.^[4] He taught at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City for a year in 1979.^[4] From 1985–1986 he was a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies, Tokyo.^[5] He was a visiting researcher (American Fellowship) at Brown University from March to June 1992.^[4] In 2002-2003 he was the General President of the Indian History Congress.^[1]

To honour his legacy, the International Conference on Indian Business & Economic History in Memory of Prof. Dwijendra Tripathi will be held on 29-31 August 2019, at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.^[6]

Some of Tripathi's vast range of works include:

• Dating the Destiny: Thirty Five Years of the Larsen & Toubro. (1975)^[4]
• Themes and Perspectives in American History: Essays in Historiography (1978)^[4]
• The Dynamics of a Tradition: Kasturbhai Lalbhai and His Entrepreneurship (1981)^[4]
• Tribute to Ethics: Remembering Kasturbhai Lalbhai (1983), co-editor^[4]
• Towards a New Frontier: History of the Bank of Baroda (1985)^[4]
• State and Business in India: A Historical Perspective (1987), author and editor ^[4]
• Historical Roots of Industrial Entrepreneurship in India and Japan: A Comparative Interpretation (1997)^[4]
• Alliance for Change: A Slum Upgrading Experiment Ahmedabad (1998)^[4]
• The Oxford History of Indian Business (2004)^[4]
• The Concise Oxford History of Indian Business, with Jyoti Jumani (2007)^[4]*
• Dynamics of Ascent: A Centenary History of Bank of Baroda (2007)^[4]
• The Oxford History of Contemporary Indian Business (2013)^[4]