List of Kolkata Presidencians

According to the college directory of the University Grants Commission (India) there are eleven colleges that have the word "Presidency College" in their titles. Among them, four are primarily referred to as Presidency College only. The following list only contains the names of some eminent alumni of Presidency College, Kolkata. A former or current student, who had been admitted into the college, but did or did not complete the course is called a 'Presidencian'. Names of former students of Hindu College, which was its predecessor from 1817–1855, are also included in this list. Names of former distinguished faculty members of the college are also mentioned in this list.

Social reform

• Durga Mohan Das, Leader of the Brahmo Samaj
• Mahendranath Gupta, Author of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
• Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee, Leader of the Young Bengal movement; Taluqdar of Shankarpore in the United Provinces
• Keshab Chandra Sen, Brahmo Reformer; founder of the Nababidhan Samaj
• Swami Vivekananda, Founder of Ramakrishna Mission and Ramakrishna Math (for one year)

Politics

• Col. H.H. Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaja of Coochbehar
• Surendranath Banerjea, 11th President of the Indian National Congress
• Bratya Basu, Higher Education Minister of West Bengal, (2011-present)
• Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Chief Minister of West Bengal (2001–11)
• Biman Bose, Chairman of the Left Front in Bengal
• Subhash Chandra Bose, 53rd President of the Indian National Congress and founder of the Forward Bloc (later expelled)
• Bhupendra Nath Bose, Under Secretary in the Council for the Secretary of State for India
• Sarat Chandra Bose, Works, Mines and Power Member, Government of India, (1946)
• Somnath Chatterjee, Speaker of Lok Sabha, India, (2004–2009)
• Pratap Chandra Chunder, Education and Social Welfare Minister, Government of India, (1977–1980)
• Asim Dasgupta, Finance Minister, Government of West Bengal, (1987-2011)
• HH Maharaja Bir Pratap Singh Deo, Former Maharaja of Sonepur, Orissa
• Ullaskar Dutta, Former Member of Jugantar Party
• Atulkrishna Ghosh, Member of the Anushilan Samiti
• Jnan Chandra Ghosh, Kt., former Member-in-Charge of Education, Health and Scientific Research, Planning Commission, India, (1955)
• Nolini Kanta Gupta, Participated in the Alipore Bomb case
• A.K. Fazlul Huq, Prime Minister of Bengal, (1939–1943)
• Azizul Haque, B.L, C.I.E, K.C.S.I, D.Litt, Former Education Minister, Government of Bengal
• Humayun Kabir, Education Minister, Government of India, (1958–67)
• Pandit Yamuna Karjee, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Bihar and Orissa (1937–42)
• Bishnu Ram Medhi, Chief Minister of Assam (1950–57)
• Amit Mitra, Finance Minister of West Bengal, (2011-present)
• Shyamaprasad Mookerjee, Industry and Supply Member, Government of India, (1946–50)
• Hirendranath Mukherjee, Member of Lok Sabha, India, (1952–77)
• Debi Prasad Pal, Minister of State for Finance, Government of India, (1991-96)
• Dr. Rajendra Prasad, First President of India
• Abdur Rahim, Member, Bengal Executive Council (Administration of Justice, Jail and other Allied Subjects), (1921–25), later President of the Central Legislative Assembly
• Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray, Chief Minister of West Bengal (1948–62)
• Siddhartha Shankar Ray, Chief Minister of West Bengal (1972–77)
• Professor Saugata Roy, Minister of State for Urban Development, Government of India, (2009-present)
• Ashoke Kumar Sen, Law and Justice Minister, Government of India, (1984-89)
• Mohit Sen, Founder, United Communist Party of India (UCPI), Member of the Communist Party of India
• Anugrah Narayan Sinha, First Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar (1946–1957)
• Lord Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, First Indian Governor of Bihar and Orissa (1920–1921)
• Atish Chandra Sinha, Minister of State for Public Undertaking, Cottage and Small Scale Industries, Government of West Bengal, (1972–1977); also Zamindar of Kandi, Bengal
• Bratya Basu, Higher Education Minister, Government of West Bengal, (2011-present)
• Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh, Former Governor of Uttar Pradesh

Judiciary

• Syed Ameer Ali, First Indian Law Lord of the Privy Council
• Gooroodas Banerjee, Former Judge of the Calcutta High Court
• Mahesh Chandra Datta, Senior Government Pleader, Silchar
• Monomohun Ghose, First practising Indian Barrister of the Calcutta High Court
• Fazlul Karim, First Chairman of Cox's Bazar
• Ashutosh Mookerjee, Former Judge of the Calcutta High Court; Former Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University
• Radhabinod Pal, Former Judge of the Calcutta High Court
• Sudhamoy Pramanick, Advocate, Indian independence activist, lifetime secretary of the 'Tili Samaj'
• Brajkishore Prasad, Eminent lawyer; also Zamindar of Shrinagar in Bihar
• Gnanendramohan Tagore, First Asian Barrister

Government

• Atul Chandra Chatterjee, ICS, Former Indian High Commissioner to the UK
• Pares Chandra Datta, Former Director, Public Health, Government of Bengal
• Basanta Kumar De, Commercial Traffic Manager, Bengal Nagpur Railway (1950-52)
• Sib Chandra Deb, Former Deputy Collector, Government of Bengal
• Gurusaday Dutt, ICS, Former Local Self Government and Public Health Secretary, Government of Bengal
• Romesh Dutt, ICS, Former Dewan of Baroda
• Behari Lal Gupta, ICS, Former Dewan of Baroda
• Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, IES, Former ADPI for Mohammedan Education, Bengal
• Sukumar Sen, ICS, Chief Election Commissioner of India, (1952-60)
• Nitish Sengupta, IAS, Former Revenue Secretary, Government of India (B.A. [Hons.] in History, 1951-53)
• Himachal Som, IFS, Former Indian Ambassador to Italy
• Satyendranath Tagore, ICS, Former District and Sessions Judge in Gujarat

Armed forces

• Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee - First Indian Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force

Industry

• Basant Kumar Birla, Chairman, B.K. Birla Group.
• Rama Prasad Goenka, Chairman Emeritus, RPG Group
• Ramgopal Ghosh, Wealthy entrepreneur who founded his own firm R.G.Ghosh and Co.
• Rajen Mookerjee, Founder of the Indian Iron and Steel Company at Burnpur
• Subodh Chandra Mullick, Founder of Life of Asia Insurance Company
• Prafulla Chandra Roy, Founder of Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals

Medicine

• Mahendralal Sarkar, Founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Sciences, Calcutta

Engineering

• Fazlur Rahman Khan, Structural Engineer, designed Chicago's 100-story John Hancock Center and 110-story Sears Tower.

Academics

Sciences

Chemistry

• Upendranath Brahmachari, First to synthesise urea stibamine

Mathematics

• Amiya Charan Banerjee, Former Vice Chancellor of Allahabad University
• Ananda Mohan Bose, First Indian Wrangler Cambridge Traipos in Mathematics
• Radhanath Sikdar, First to calculate the height of Mount Everest
• Azizul Haque, contributed to the mathematical formula for Henry Classification System of fingerprinting still widely used in the world

Physics

• Jagadish Chandra Bose, Inventor of wireless communications, crescograph
• Satyendranath Bose, Discovered Bose-Einstein statistics along with Albert Einstein; Bosons
• Sisir Kumar Mitra, A crater on the moon is named after him
• Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, Physicist, known for Raychaudhuri's equation in General Theory of Relativity, former Professor and Head of Physics, Presidency College
• Meghnad Saha, Discovered the Saha ionization equation
• Ashoke Sen, Eminent physicist; Contributed to string theory

Psychology

• P. K. Roy, First Indian Principal of Presidency College, Calcutta

Statistics

• Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, First Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta

Social sciences

Anthropology

• Surajit Chandra Sinha, Former Upacharya of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan; also Maharajkumar of Susanga, Bengal

Economics

• Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
• Amiya Bagchi, Chancellor, Tripura University, Agartala
• Abhijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
• Pranab Bardhan, Professor at University of California at Berkeley
• Amitava Bose, Former Director, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
• Bibek Debroy, Former Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, New Delhi
• Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics, London School of Economics
• Bimal Jalan, Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, (2000-4)
• Sugata Marjit, Director, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, (2007-present)
• Radhakamal Mukerjee, Former Vice-Chancellor of University of Lucknow
• Mihir Rakshit, Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
• Debraj Ray, Julius Silver Professor of Economics, New York University
• Amartya Sen, Master, Trinity College, Cambridge, (1998–2004); winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1998
• Anindya Sen, Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

History

• A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Former Professor of History, Dhaka University; awarded with Ekushe Padak
• Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, Discoverer of Mohenjodaro, the principal site of the Harappa Culture
• Sugata Bose, Former Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, Harvard University, USA
• Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lawrence A. Kimpton Professor of South Asian History, University of Chicago (B.A. [Hons.], Physics, 1963-6)
• Suranjan Das, Vice Chancellor, University of Calcutta (2006-present)
• Barun De, Chairman, West Bengal Heritage Commission, Calcutta, (2008-2011)
• Dwijendra Narayan Jha, Professor of History, University of Delhi
• Romesh Chandra Majumdar, Former Vice Chancellor, University of Dacca
• Rajat Kanta Ray, Upacharya, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, (2006-2011)
• Hemchandra Raychaudhuri, Former Charmichael Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta
• Tapan Raychaudhuri, Padma Bhushan, Ad Hominem Professor of Indian History and Civilisation, University of Oxford, (1991-2)
• Jadunath Sarkar, Former Vice Chancellor, University of Calcutta
• Sumit Sarkar, Former Professor of History, University of Delhi
• Susobhan Chandra Sarkar, Professor and Head of Department of History, Presidency College, Calcutta, (1937-60)
• Tanika Sarkar, Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Political science

• Partha Chatterjee, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York, USA
• Sudipta Kaviraj, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science, Columbia University, New York

Languages

Bengali

• Muhammad Shahidullah, Writer and linguist
• Madan Mohan Tarkalankar, Renowned textbook writer

English

• Ahmed Ali, British Council Visiting Professor of English, The National Central University, Nanking
• Jasodhara Bagchi, Former Chairperson, West Bengal Women's Commission, Calcutta
• Swapan Kumar Chakravorty, Director-General, National Library, Kolkata
• Sukanta Chaudhuri, Emeritus-Professor of English, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
• Supriya Chaudhuri, Professor of English, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
• Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Former Professor of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
• Peary Charan Sarkar, Former Headmaster, Hare School, Calcutta

Sanskrit

• Kshetresa Chandra Chattopadhyaya, Former Professor of Sanskrit at Allahabad University
• Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, CIE, Former Director of Public Instructions
• Haraprasad Shastri, Former Principal of Sanskrit College, Calcutta

Journalists

• M. J. Akbar, Former Editor, The Asian Age
• Krishna Mohan Banerjee, Publisher of Inquirer
• Pramatha Chaudhuri, Former Editor of Sabuj Patra
• Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Opinions Editor, The Telegraph
• Rasik Krishna Mallick, Former Editor of Jnananwesan
• Pritish Nandy, Former Editor, Illustrated Weekly of India
• Akshay Chandra Sarkar, Former Editor, Sadharani
• Udayan Mukherjee, Managing Editor, CNBC India

Poets and novelists and non-fiction writers

• Manik Bandopadhyay, Novelist
• Rajnarayan Basu, Writer and prominent Brahmo
• Rajsekhar Basu, Novelist
• Samit Basu, Novelist
• Sasthi Brata, Writer
• Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Poet and Novelist
• Shakti Chattopadhyay, poet
• Jibanananda Das, Poet
• Henry Louis Vivan Derozio, Poet
• Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Poet
• Shankha Ghosh, Poet
• Shahidullah Kaiser, Winner of Bangla Academy Award
• Acharya Kuber Nath Rai, Eminent writer of Hindi Literature
• Sukumar Ray, Poet and Humourist
• Upendrakishore Raychaudhuri, Writer
• Jyotirindranath Tagore, Poet and Novelist
• Dwijendralal Ray, Poet, Playwright and Musician

Artists and musicians

• Devajyoti Ray, Artist
• Dilipkumar Roy, Singer
• Atulprasad Sen, Singer
• Dwijendranath Tagore, Musician
• Pritam Chakraborty, Bollywood music director cum sound engineer

Filmmakers, theatre personalities and actors

• Pramathesh Barua, Actor and Director
• Bibhas Chakraborty, Theatre artist
• Ashok Kumar, Winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1988)
• Dinabandhu Mitra, Author of Nildarpan
• Satyajit Ray, Film Director; winner of the Oscar Award for Lifetime Achievement (1992)
• Aparna Sen, Actress
• Subrata Sen, Film-maker, author

Sportspersons

• Vece Paes, Member of the Bronze medal winning Indian Hockey team at the Munich Olympics, (1972)

Faculty members

• Syed Ameer Ali, Former Judge of the High Court of Calcutta (Lecturer in Islamic Law)
• Jagadish Chandra Bose, Eminent physicist (Professor of Physics)
• Rabindra Kumar Das Gupta, Former Director, National Library, Calcutta (Offtg. Professor of English)
• Bishnu Dey, Eminent poet; winner of Sahitya Academy Award and Rashtriya Jnanpith Award
• David Lester Richardson, Former Principal of Hindu College, Calcutta
• Prafulla Chandra Roy, Founder of Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works (Assistant Professor of Chemistry)