The finance ministry on Friday constituted a standing council to assess the international competitiveness of the country's financial sector and suggest reforms for the capital markets.
It is to be chaired by the secretary, department of economic affairs, in the ministry. At present, Arvind Mayaram is the secretary.
The council will examine various transaction costs, the burden of doing business in the financial sector and how to enhance its competitiveness. It will also suggest reform measures for capital markets and the financial sector, explained an official statement. It was constituted in the wake of a budget announcement. Besides the economic affairs secretary, the chief economic adviser will be alternate chair and member. The joint secretary in the capital markets division of the ministry will be a member.
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Other members of the council, for now, include Prime Database Chairman Prithvi Haldea, GDI Group board member Madhav Dhar, CARE India chairman Nachiket Mor, Booz and Company ex-chief executive Shumeet Banerji, Jahangir Aziz of JPMorgan and Co, NSE Vice-Chairman Ravi Narain, India Development Foundation director Shubhashis Gangopadhyay (also a Business Standard columnist) and V Ravi Anshuman of Indian Institute of Managment, Bangalore.
Meanwhile, the government has also framed rules for constitution of the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), to subsume the Prime Minister's National Council on Skill Development, the National Skill Development Coordination Board and the Office of the Adviser to the PM on Skill Development. The NSDA will coordinate the skill development efforts of the government and the private sector, for disadvantaged and marginalised groups. It will be an autonomous body, chaired by a person of the rank and status of a cabinet minister, supported by a director-general.