Govt Appoints 3 New Members To RBI's MPC

The government has approved economists Shashank Bhide, Ashima Goyal and Jayanth R Varma as nominees for independent members to the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee late on Monday.

Shashank Bhide is a senior advisor at the New Delhi-based think tank National Council for Applied Economic Research, while Goyal is a professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai. Jayant R Varma is a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Goyal is also a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic advisory council.

The new members have been appointed for a four-year term or until further order, whichever is earlier, according to a government notification.

RBI had to postpone the bi-monthly committee meeting that was set to take place from 29 September 1 October, as it required at least four MPC members to proceed and the government had failed to name replacements for three previous appointees whose tenure ended in September.

The RBI is widely expected to keep key rates unchanged at the upcoming monetary policy review amid high retail inflation and the looming threat of a contraction in economic growth.