NY Times finance editor Das departs for South Asia

If you’ve been noting Anupreeta Das’s name in some unfamiliar contexts lately, you’ve probably already guessed that big news has been happening. After four years of guiding hard-hitting coverage as The Times’s finance editor, Preeta is returning to where she got started in journalism, joining our team in New Delhi as our newest South Asia correspondent.

Right away, she brought insight and an engaging style to our coverage of the region. She marked how the lavish Ambani wedding was the fanfare of a new gilded age in India. She wrote about how Indians see Kamala Harris as a shining example of the diaspora’s influence and success. And she jumped right into one of the biggest stories of the year: the tumult in Bangladesh, the sudden fall of its iron-fisted prime minister, and the troubling questions in its wake.

She’s the right correspondent for a crucial time in South Asia. India’s surprisingly close elections this summer put a hitch in the once seemingly unstoppable consolidation of power by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist allies. Still, the country’s profile on the world stage has never been larger, even though it faces huge social and economic challenges. And its neighbors, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, all face urgent questions of their own, including how to deal with China’s increasingly ambitious projection of power.

Preeta sees her move to India for The Times as the fulfillment of a longtime goal of bringing all the experience and perspective of her globe-spanning education and newspaper career back to covering the country of her birth. “I’ve lived in nine cities around the world, including Delhi — although the city in 2024 might as well be an entirely new one,” she says.

After getting her start writing for publications including The Indian Express and The Boston Globe, she went to Reuters. Then she joined The Wall Street Journal as a correspondent with a keen eye for finance and an investigative flair. She was promoted to deputy business editor there, and then came to The Times in 2020 as finance editor, leading a team that broke crucial stories about racial discrimination at State Farm and about the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX, among many others.

“I’m not sure if I’m happier for Preeta, or for all of us on this side of the world who will get to work closely with her. She’s an incredible journalist and a great colleague,” said Rich Barbieri, the deputy business editor in Seoul who oversees our economics coverage in Asia.

After her strong start in South Asia, Preeta is taking a little time to promote her new book about the life and influence of Bill Gates, which has been driving headlines in its own right. Soon, though, she’ll be settled in with our stellar team in Delhi: Mujib Mashal, Alex Travelli, Hari Kumar, Suhasini Raj, Sameer Yasir and Pragati K.B.

Please join us in congratulating Preeta on this thrilling new chapter. We’re excited to read it as it unfolds.