Raghuram Rajan to advise PM; high-power panel to resolve industry woes

03 November 2008

Raghuram G Rajan, professor of finance at the University of Chicago, has been appointed honorary economic adviser to prime minister Manmohan Singh even as the government today decided to set up a committee headed by the prime minister or the finance minister for quick resolution of problems faced by the industry.

Rajan, a former chief economist with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will hold the rank of secretary, Government of India.

It was a panel on financial sector reforms in India, headed by Rajan, which recently issued a draft report suggesting that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should have the single objective of controlling inflation.

The 229-page draft said had suggested that the RBI should use a single instrument such as short-term rates to bring inflation to the targeted level.

Rajan had earlier headed a high-powered committee set up by the prime minister to suggest ways of making India a financial powerhouse over the next five years.

He was also a visiting professor of finance at the Kellogg School, Northwestern University, and Fischer Black visiting professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management.