Shenoy was among the minority of economists in India critical of state socialism, the official policy, and advocated a free market economy during the 50s and 60s.

The Economics Research Centre founded by him has relentlessly pursued this line of thinking ever since. His economic philosophy was adopted by the Indian government in 1991 with the introduction of liberalisation, according to Arvind R Doshi, Chairman, Economic Research Centre. Shenoy, was bitterly critical of the planned regime during the first three decades of independent India's history. He advocated a floating exchange rateregime, freedom from planning and rupee devaluation to improve our terms of trade.

According to Shenoy's ``Balance of Payments Crisis'' published in 1966, the solution to the softness of the Indian rupee is four fold. First, a policy of zero inflation should be followed. Second, a shift-back from production of home market to production for export is required to correct the shift in the opposite direction which the policies of the past decade or more have brought about.

Third, a downward adjustment in the exchange value of the rupee is necessary to remedy the over-valuation in this rate which has resulted from inflation hitherto and finally, the elimination of the price gaps between the landed costs and the market prices of import goods and between the official and the market prices of gold is essential. Most of his findings during the mid-60s are still quite relevant for the Indian economy and subsequent governments have attempted to follow these policies partially or in full.

In his paper on ``PublicSector Wastage'' presented at the Bombay Pradesh Congress Souvenir in 1977, Shenoy had said that the undertakings in the government sector appropriate over 70 per cent of the availability investment resources comprising domestic savings and foreign aid. On the other hand, contribution of these undertakings to the Indian national product is less than 20 per cent. The problem presented by the government sector is not merely a problem of misuse, misdirection, extravagance and wastage of investment resources, it also necessarily entails resource hardships on the non-government sector. According to him, the prevailing Indian economic chaos is due, in no small measure, to this perverse pattern of resource distribution. Shenoy advocated ``a phased programme of denationalisation of government undertakings'' as far back as the early 70s. A large number of Shenoy's suggestions now find their way into policy documents, over two decades after they were instituted by him. A tribute to his works, at the 81st annualconference of the IEA, comes at an appropriate time, Doshi added.