It is widely anticipated that the MPC will keep interest rate unchanged despite change in composition of external members.
This would be tenth time in a row when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will maintain status quo as far as policy rate is concerned. The MPC last revised interest rate in February 2023, when it was hiked to 6.5 per cent.
Apart from the chairman, the other internal members are RBI Deputy Governor in charge of monetary policy Michael Debabrata Patra and Executive Director monetary policy department of RBI Rajiv Ranjan.
The government on Tuesday appointed Ram Singh, Saugata Bhattacharya and Nagesh Kumar as external members to the MPC.
Singh, who is director of the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, has completed his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Post-Doctorate (Economics) from Harvard University. He has also taught at Bucerius Law School, Heidelberg University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. A senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), Saugata Bhattacharya has over 30 years of experience in economic and financial markets analysis, policy advocacy, infrastructure and project finance, consumer behaviour and analytics.
Before joining CPR, Bhattacharya served as the chief economist and executive vice president at Axis Bank.
The third member Nagesh Kumar is the Director and Chief Executive of the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID). Prior to taking up this role in May 2021, Kumar served as Director at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
During 2002-2009, Kumar served as the Director-General of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a policy think tank of the Government of India (Ministry of External Affairs).
It is interesting to note that extended tenure of two ex-officio members Governor Das and Deputy Governor Patra is coming to an end in December and January respectively.