Ramesh Narayan is an influential theoretical astrophysicist. His work on radiatively inefficient accretion flows has revolutionised our understanding of accretion onto compact objects, and may resolve the fundamental problem of why most nearby black holes are dark despite the presence of ample fuel. He has made fundamental contributions to understanding gamma-ray bursts, pulsar demography, image reconstruction, accretion discs, gravitational lenses, interstellar scintillation and other subjects.