Benu Schneider holds a doctorate from the University of Kiel, Germany.  Author of several books and papers on international finance, she has combined academic and consultancy work with particular focus on macroeconomic policies, domestic financial sector reforms, international finance and financial architecture. Her work on capital flight from developing countries became a seminal book in that area of work. She has authored policy papers, including one analyzing the Indian money market for the Narasimham Committee of Banking Reform.  She has made presentations at many national and international conferences, including the Paris Forum, G24, and the World Economic Forum etc.

She retired from the United Nations in a role providing substantive support and briefings to the UN inter-governmental processes.  She was previously based at the Globalization Division, UNCTAD, where she led technical assistance efforts for countries preparing for Paris Club negotiations on debt restructuring and served as the UNCTAD observer rep at the Paris Club. She held a professional position at the Overseas Development Institute where she conducted policy oriented research and advisory work on capital account liberalization. She held the position of full time advisor at the Reserve Bank of India, carrying out policy work on monetary policy and the management of capital flows, besides other academic posts in India and Germany.