Budget 2020: Who advises PM Modi on economy, Budget?

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) is an independent body constituted to provide advice to the Prime Minister on matters pertaining to the economy and other related issues such as inflation, the Union Budget, banking reforms, financial inclusion, microfinance etc.

At present, the EAC-PM comprises seven members. The council customarily has had terms parallel to the Prime Minister’s term.

The mandate of the EAC-PM include analysing any macroeconomic issues and presenting their view of the issue and potential solutions to the PM. These issues could be taken up by the council or the PM could ask the council for their advice on any matter that the PM brings up. The council also submits periodic reports to the PM on developments in the economy and implications it may have on economic policy.

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PM Narendra Modi revived the council on September 25, 2017, after the council resigned following the end of former PM Manmohan Singh’s second term. Here are the current members of the EAM-PC.

The current chairman of the Economic Advisory Council is Dr Bibek Debroy. Dr Debroy was a Member of NITI Aayog up to June 2019. He has authored and edited many books, papers, and popular articles. He has also been a Consulting/Contributing Editor with several newspapers. He has worked with many universities, research institutes studying economic policy, commerce.

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Ratan P Watal is Member Secretary of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Government of India. As an Indian Administrative Service Officer, Ratan Watal has served in various positions in Government of India, Prime Minister’s Office, International Monetary Fund and Government of Andhra Pradesh. He was Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance till April 2016. He handled four Union Government budgets as Secretary.

Dr Sajjid Z Chinoy is the Chief India Economist at JP Morgan. He is currently also a member of the Advisory Council to the 15th Finance Commission. He has written several publications on the Indian economy including co-editing a book on Indian economic reform.

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Dr Ashima Goyal has published widely in open economy macroeconomics, international finance, and governance, with over 100 articles in national and international journals to her credit. She has also authored and edited several books.

Dr Anantha-Nageswaran received a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 1985. He also has a doctoral degree in Finance from the University of Massachusetts for his work on the empirical behaviour of exchange rates. He is a member of the Board of Directors of many companies.

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Neelkanth Mishra is a Managing Director, India Strategist and Co-Head of Equity Strategy, Asia Pacific, for Credit Suisse. He has been an entrepreneur and has also worked with Hindustan Lever Limited. He is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, graduating with a degree in computer science and engineering.

Nilesh Shah is the Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Limited. He has worked in several leadership positions with Axis Bank Group, ICICI Bank Group. He is a Gold Medallist Chartered Accountant. He has written on Indian Economy and Markets in various publications in India and abroad.