Dr R K Uppal, head dept of economics DAV College, Malout was honoured with Dr. APJ Abudul Kalam international innovative economist award of the year -2019 by Nelson Mandela University. Dr. R K Uppal, a prolific writer, an outstanding academician and the more ingenious guide has won accolades not only in the academic field but also in the genre of research. Presently, he is serving as an associate professor of economics at DAV College, Malout (Punjab) and Principal Investigator of a UGC-Funded Major Research Project on Indian Banking. The doyen of economics who hails from educationally humble area of Punjab completed his post graduation and Ph.D from Punjabi University, Patiala. He is considered as master of professional academic work. As a matter of fact, his research fervor and academic zeal primarily focuses upon banking and finance. He heralded a new era of globally competitive Indian banking system. He authored/edited seventy two books and since 2014 some of his books earned global recognition with Google scholar citation such as 548 h-index 11 and i10 index is 15. Amongst his prominent books Indian Banking in the Globalized World-2013, Information Technology in Banks- A New Gateway for Sucsess-2018, E-Age Banking - A Future Outlook-2018, Banking with Technology- A New Vision 2020 have won an array of laurels. Through his books, he envisaged the challenges and opportunities regarding the use of e-banking particularly in public sector banks. He was instrumental in suggesting the reforms in e-technology. His prodigious research talent gave him leverage to write as many as two seventy five research papers on banking and finance. He presented seventy two research papers in different national and international conferences. His claim as a researcher was never unfounded as eight of his research papers were lauded at different international conferences held at Hawaii, Indonesia, Finland, Costa-Rica, Australia, London and Pakistan respectively. His insatiable craving for research got stimulus under the aegis of UGC and HRD. As many as seven major post-doctorate research projects were funded by UGC, ICSSR and HRD, New Delhi. He reciprocated successfully and harnessed his research skill with incredible finesse and ease. His able guidance inspired even many young teachers to wade into the ocean of research and he produced sixty two M.Phil and eight Ph.D in this process. He was even awarded Honorary D.Litt degree by reputed Business University, Costa Rica in 2014.