India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth fell to a 25-quarter low of 5% in the first quarter of this financial year. The IMF and RBI recently cut India’s growth projection for 2019 to 6.1 per cent, which is 1.2 per cent lower than its April projections. The World Bank and Moody’s too have revised down India’s GDP forecast for financial year 2019-20 to 6 per cent and 5.8% respectively.
To arrest this downfall, the Narendra Modi led government in a circular dated 16 October has appointed three new part-time members to the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). They are Neelkanth Mishra, Nilesh Shah and Dr V Anantha Nageswaran. They will serve as non-permanent members of the EAC-PM for the next two years or until any specific orders.
Dr V Anantha Nageswaran is currently the Dean at the IFMR Graduate School of Business, Krea University. He is an influential commentator on economy.
Neelkanth Mishra is the co-head of Asia Pacific Strategy and India Equity Strategist for Credit Suisse. He was a part of the Advisory Council to the Fifteenth Finance Commission, and has been an adviser to committees on GST and FRBM.
Nilesh Shah is the Managing Director (MD) of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Corporation. He has over 25 years of experience in capital markets.
The EAC-PM advises the Prime Minister on macroeconomic issues and other economic matters referred to it by the PM. The Council also submits papers on issues including employment, macroeconomic situation and growth.
Economist Dr Bibek Debroy will continue as the Chairman of the council and Ratan P Watal has retained his position as the Member Secretary of the reconstituted EAC-PM.
