Vikas Kumar Shah has a M.Sc. in General Economics from Madras School of Economics and a BA in Business Economics from Shivaji College, Delhi University. He has research experience as a Research Associate working on a project about the impact of urbanization on government finances and property taxes in Tamil Nadu. His academic projects examined reasons for suicide rates in Kerala and the relationship between firm size and profitability in hotel and hospital industries. He was academically successful in school, topping the commerce stream and placing second in examinations. His extracurricular activities include playing cricket and he has skills in Microsoft Office, Excel, PowerPoint, STATA and R.