Sumit Sarkar (born 1939) is an Indian historian of modern India. He is the author of Swadeshi Movement.

He studied at Presidency College, Calcutta and at the University of Calcutta. He taught for many years as a lecturer at the University of Calcutta, and later as a reader at the University of Burdwan. He was Professor of History at the University of Delhi.

He was born into a family of illustrious historians. His father Sushovan Sarkar was also a pioneering historian and his elder sister Sipra Sarkar, was also a reputed historian and educationalist. His mother was the cousin of legendary statistician P C Mahalanobis. His wife Tanika Sarkar is also a historian and daughter of renowned educationalists Sukumari and Amal Bhattacharya.

He was awarded the Rabindra Puraskar literary award by the West Bengal government in 2004. He returned the award in 2007 in protest against the expulsion of farmers from their land.

(from Wikipedia)