Chennamaneni Hanumantha Rao (born 15 May 1929) is an Indian economist and writer.

[1] He was a member of the National Advisory Council from 2004 to 2008[2] and chaired the Technical Committee on Drought prone Areas Programme and Desert Development Programme[3] of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.

[4] He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the president of India in 2004, for contributions in the field of Literature and Education.

[8] On receiving the Padma Bhushan from the president of India in 2004 he said in his felicitation speech: “I learnt precision in writing from Professor Dr Vikas Mishra (economist) who was my supervisor for Ph.D thesis.

On one occasion he picked up from his shelf an old draft of his own thesis and showed me the similar round brackets placed by his supervisor, Arthur Lewis who was later to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics.”