Foreign advisers of 10th Plan review panel ready to quit

New consultation groups to be set up after montek returns from US

The controversy over the presence of experts from multilateral agencies and consulting companies in the committees set up by the Planning Commission for the mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Five-Year Plan is showing signs of blowing over.

Representatives of the World Bank and McKinsey have offered to resign from the consultative groups. Boston Consulting Group Chairman Arun Maira, however, attended the meeting of the group on industry and refused to opt out till he is "kicked out".

"Unless and until someone kicks me out or tells me that I am useless, I would keep coming," Maira said. Others like Asian Development Bank Chief Economist Sudipto Mundle is in Manila and has not taken a decision on opting out.

The World Bank said it would continue to offer consultancy at an informal level to the Planning Commission, while McKinsey said the controversy was detracting from the actual work of the panel. It also offered to continue to support the process from outside.

McKinsey representative Adil Zainulbhai did not attend the meeting, along with Jawaharlal Nehru University professors CP Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh, two of the economists who had threatened to withdraw yesterday.

A decision on reconstituting the consultative groups will be taken after Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia's return from the US.