Govt appoints Ashima Goyal, Jayanth Varma, Shashanka Bhide as MPC members

MPC meeting likely early next week with new panel

The government has appointed three external members to the central bank’s panel that decides interest rates, said a government official. These three members are -- Ashima Goyal, member of Economic Advisory Council of Prime Minister, Shashanka Bhide, senior advisor at National Council for Applied Economic Research and Jayanth Varma who is a professor in Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. 

The appointment has come after the government faced widespread criticism over failing to act on time to appoint an external panel to the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Last week, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had to defer its three-day interest-rate meeting, without