Government Appoints New Members to RBI's Monetary Policy Committee

The government has appointed Ram Singh, Saugata Bhattacharya, and Nagesh Kumar as external members of the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee for four years. This reconstitution is aimed at addressing inflation targeting, starting from their meeting between October 7 to 9. The search committee recommended these candidates.

The government on Tuesday appointed three external members -- Ram Singh, Saugata Bhattacharya, and Nagesh Kumar -- to the RBI's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee for four years.

The central government has reconstituted the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of RBI, the finance ministry said in a statement. The reconstituted MPC will have its first meeting from October 7 to 9. Following the MPC meeting, Governor Das will announce the bi-monthly monetary policy on October 9.

The members of the MPC appointed by the central government will hold office for a period of four years, with immediate effect or until further orders, whichever is earlier, the statement said. They replace Ashima Goyal, Shashanka Bhide, and Jayanth Varma. Established in 2016, the MPC was formed under the Monetary Policy Framework Agreement to target inflation with a tolerance band of plus/minus 2 per cent.

While the search committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, has zeroed in on the candidates and recommended them to the government, the appointment process was delayed as certain processes, such as security clearances of some members, were not completed in time. The search committee included RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery, and Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth.

(With inputs from agencies.)