Raghuram Rajan takes over as Chief Economic Advisor

Raghuram G Rajan, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist, took charge as chief economic advisor (CEA) in the finance ministry on Wednesday.

Rajan, who will be a key member of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's team, was honorary economic advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Cabinet Appointments Committee had on August 10 cleared Rajan's appointment as the new CEA.

"I am glad to be here," Rajan told media persons after taking charge. "The world economy faces serious challenges and India is no exception. I hope that in the next days I can help contribute to whatever solutions we devise in tackling these challenges."

An alumni of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and IIT-Delhi, Rajan did his doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He is highly acclaimed for predicting the 2008 global financial crisis. Rajan was also involved with the report on Financial Sector Reforms authorized by the Planning Commission.

The position of the CEA has been lying vacant since Kaushik Basu's term ended on July 31.

With inputs from IANS