The Department of Economics is as old as the College itself, as the College began functioning with Group III of the Intermediate Course. Krishna Iyer was the founder member of the Department. The first Principal of the College Rev. Mathew Purackal was also a member of the Department. The Department became full-fledged with the introduction of BA Course in Economics in 1934. Under the imitative of
Prof. Berchmans College became the first college to get affiliation for MA Economics in 1957. Professors O C Varghese, L M Pylee, C Z Scaria, K K Francis etc., gave leadership to the department. As a token of the department’s gratitude to Prof. C Z Scaria, Prof. C Z Scaria Shashtabdyapoorthy Memorial Lecture was instituted in 1998. In 1992, the Department instituted Prof. K K Francis Memorial Lecture to honour the memory of Prof. K K Francis. These lecturers are held every year without fail.The Department celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the commencement of the Post Graduate Programme on 12 October 2006. Jayaram Ramesh, Hon. Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry was the chief guest of honour on the occasion. In 2010, the Department of Economics has been granted recognition as an approved Research Centre of the Mahatma Gandhi University. The formal inauguration of the Research Centre was held on 15th March 2010 and Dr. U R Anandamoorthy, the former Vice Chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University was the chief guest of the function. There are eight permanent teachers and four guest lecturers in the department. At present, Prof. T K Thomas is the Head of the Department. The former Principal Rev. Fr. Tom Kunnumpuram and the present Principal Rev. Dr. Tomy Padinjareveettil are members of the Department of Economics.
