Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (PMEAC) is a non-constitutional, non-permanent and independent body constituted to give economic advice to the Government of India, specifically the Prime Minister. The council serves to highlight key economic issues facing the country to the government of India from a neutral viewpoint. It advises the Prime Minister on economic issues like inflation, microfinance, and industrial output.
History
The PMEAC has been constituted several times since the independence of India.
In the latest occurrence, Prime minister Modi revived the body on 25 September 2017. Currently PMEAC chairman post is held by Bibek Debroy.
The previous Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman Chakravarthi Rangarajan resigned on 19 May 2014. He sent his resignation to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.He resigned following the defeat of the Congress-led UPA in the general elections 2014.
Since the term of the PMEAC was parallel to that of the Prime Minister, with the resignation of the PM Manmohan Singh on 17 May 2014, the PMEAC also needed to resign.
The PMEAC headed by C Rangrajan had Saumitra Chaudhuri, V.S. Vyas, Pulin B. Nayak and Dilip M. Nachane as members.
Before this, PMEAC which was constituted on 29 December 2004, headed by Suresh Tendulkar resigned upon the completion of the then Union government's term on 21 May 2009.
Functions
Terms of reference as defined by the PMEAC are as follows: Analyzing any issue, economic or otherwise, referred to it by the Prime Minister and advising him thereon; Addressing issues of macroeconomic importance and presenting views thereon to the Prime Minister. This could be either suo-moto or on a reference from the Prime Minister or anyone else:
Submitting periodic reports to the Prime Minister on macroeconomic developments and issues with implications for economic policy; Attending to any other task as may be desired by the Prime Minister from time to time.
The primary role of the PMEAC is to give a neutral viewpoint on economic policy matters that are referred to it by the Prime Minister. Additionally it prepares a monthly report of economic developments that need to be highlighted to the PM. For this purpose it closely monitors national and international economic developments and trends and develops appropriate policy responses for the PM. It publishes reports on the annual Economic Outlook and Review of the Economy of India.
Organisation
The PMEAC is chaired by a Chairperson and consists of eminent economists as members. It is supported in its functions by a team of officials and administrators. There is no fixed definition on the exact number of members and staff of the PMEAC. At one point it was even chaired by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself.
For administrative, logistic, planning and budgeting purposes, the NITI Aayog serves as the Nodal Agency for the PMEAC.
Chairman
Bibek Debroy is the current chairman of the current EAC, appointed in 2017.
Dr. C. Rangarajan was the Chairman of the previous PMEAC. Chairman suggests measures to improve the economic condition. He was appointed in August 2009. The Chairman had the rank equivalent to a Cabinet Minister of India.
Members
The following are currently the members of the PMEAC:
Bibek Debroy - chairman of the council, who was a member of NITI Aayog. Dr. Shamika Ravi, as a full time member who was also earlier member of the EAC.
Sanjeev Sanyal, as full-time member, who was Principal Economic Advisor of Finance Minister. Dr. Sajjid Z. Chinoy, as part-time member, who is Chief India Economist at J.P. Morgan Dr. Ashima Goyal, as part-time member, a widely published economist and Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research professor Prof. TT Ram Mohan, as part-time member. Visiting Professor at IIM Ahmedabad. Neelkanth Mishra, as part-time member, is a Managing Director, Co-Head of Equity Strategy, Asia Pacific, and India Strategist for Credit Suisse Nilesh Shah is currently Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Limited Dr. Poonam Gupta, as part-time member. Director General of NCAER.
The previous EAC had, in addition to Dr C Rangarajan, the following members: