Rangarajan back as PM's top adviser

The prime minister's economic advisory panel has been reconstituted by reappointing C Rangarajan, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, as its chairman, a government release said today.

Other members of the council are Saumitra Chaudhuri, (economic adviser, ICRA), Govinda Rao (director-general, National Institute of Public Finance & Policy), Vijay Shankar Vyas (president, Asian Society of Agricultural Economists) and Suman K Bery (director-general of National Council of Applied Economic Research.

The members of the council will have the rank of minister of state, the release said.

Apart from advice on policy matters referred to the council by the PM from time to time, the EAC also prepares a monthly report on economic developments at home and abroad for the prime minister.

It monitors economic trends on a regular basis and bringing to the PM's attention important developments at home and abroad and suggests suitable policy responses.