Centre appoints economist S Mahendra Dev as chairperson of EAC-PM

Niti Aayog vice chairman Suman Bery was holding the position following the death of Bibek Debroy who died on November 1 last year

The Union government has appointed economist S Mahendra Dev as the chairperson of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) for a period of two years. NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery was holding the position following the death of Bibek Debroy on November 1 last year.

 

A notification by the Cabinet Secretariat reviewed by Business Standard also said that PM Narendra Modi has approved the reconstitution of the EAC-PM with new part-time members Soumya Kanti Ghosh, K V Raju, Chetan Ghate, Pami Dua, Pulak Ghosh, and Gourav Vallabh. While Poonam Gupta has been excluded from the list following her appointment as a deputy governor in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the rest of the part-time members — Rakesh Mohan, Sajid Chinoy, Neelkanth Mishra, Nilesh Shah, and T T Ram Mohan — have been retained.

 

 

All the three full-time members — Sanjeev Sanyal, Sanjay Kumar Mishra, and Shamika Ravi — have also been retained. 

 

The notification said while Dev shall be entitled to the status, pay, and allowances of a Union minister of state (MoS), full-time members will be of the rank and pay of secretary to the Government of India on contract basis.

 

A renowned economist, Dev is currently the editor of the Economic and Political Weekly. He earlier also served as the director and vice chancellor at Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. He was serving as an independent director in Axis Bank before resigning from the position following his appointment to the EAC-PM.

 

In a notification to stock exchanges on Thursday, the Axis Bank informed that his resignation is effective immediately. In an attached letter addressed to the chairman of Axis Bank, Dev confirmed his EAC-PM appointment as the reason for his resignation.

 

The Cabinet Secretariat notification said EAC-PM would analyse and advise on any issue, economic or otherwise, referred to it by the PM. The terms of reference of the Council also includes addressing issues of macroeconomic importance, and presenting views thereon to the PM. “This could be either sue motu or on a reference from the Prime Minister or anyone else,” it said, adding that the Council would attend to any other task as may be desired by the PM from time to time.