Economist S. Mahendra Dev appointed EAC-PM chairman
Economist S. Mahendra Dev has been appointed the new chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), a person informed about the development said. Dev, till Thursday an independent director with Axis Bank, will take charge of the position on Friday, said the person, who spoke on condition of not being named.
Earlier in the day, Axis Bank informed stock exchanges that Dev had resigned from its board owing to his appointment as chairman of the EAC-PM, which is a full-time position.
EAC-PM did not have a full-time chairman since last November, when its first chairman Bibek Debroy passed away. NITI Aayog vice chairman Suman Bery has been holding the additional charge of EAC-PM since then.
The new appointment comes at a time the Narendra Modi government is busy dealing with the tariff war triggered by the US administration and its global macroeconomic implications, while also striving to step up and sustain economic growth rate in order to realize the government's goal of making India a developed country by 2047.
Besides advising the Prime Minister on economic and related issues, EAC-PM analyses key issues requiring the attention of policy makers at the highest level.
Business Standard reported on Thursday that Dev's appointment is for a period of two years, and that new part-time members of the council include Soumya Kanti Ghosh, K.V. Raju, Chetan Ghate, Pami Dua, Pulak Ghosh and Gourav Vallabh. Mint could not independently verify this.
Dev had previously served on several government panels and in the working groups for ninth, tenth and eleventh Five Year Plans. He had also served as the chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. He received his Ph.D. from the Delhi School of Economics and did his post-doctoral research at the Yale University.
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