India’s newly constituted Economic Advisory Council will hold its first meeting at the Niti Aayog on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had formed the council on September 25, with economist Dr Bibek Debroy as the head, to bring reforms to the Indian financial system. Debroy is a member of the Niti Aayog, as well.
Economists Surjit Bhalla, Rathin Roy and Ashima Goyal and former Finance Secretary Ratan Watal are the other members of the panel.
On Wednesday, Arvind Subramanian, the chief economic advisor to the Ministry of Finance, will present the state of the economy at the meeting, which Debroy will chair, The Indian Express reported. The council had held a brainstorming session with stakeholders on Monday in the run-up to the meeting.
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had a similar council, headed by economist Dr C Rangarajan. The council works primarily with the prime minister to advise him about economic policy and developments in the sector.
In 2014, Modi had disbanded the council after coming to power. His decision to constitute it again came after widespread criticism of the government’s Goods and Services Tax and the demonetisation drive from November 2016, both of which have been blamed for dragging India’s GDP growth down to 5.7% in the first quarter of 2017 from 7.9% in the corresponding period last year.
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