MUMBAI: The government has finally appointed three economists — PMEAC member Ashima Goyal, NCAER’s Shashanka Bhide and IIM-Ahmedabad professor Jayanth Varma — as new members of the RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC) to decide on interest rates.
The much-delayed appointments, which resulted in the postponement of the panel’s crucial meeting last week, came even as the government is yet to name a successor to SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar who will retire on Wednesday.
The central bank, which was forced to postpone the meeting in the absence of three external members, will announce fresh dates for the MPC meeting over the next few days. The panel is chaired by RBI governor Shaktikanta Das with deputy governor Michael Patra and the executive director in charge of monetary policy as its members. The new members nominated have been given a four-year term.