The Government has issued the order for appointment of Raghuram G Rajan as the new Chief Economic Advisor. He will succeed Kaushik Basu, who demitted office on July 31.
Raghuram Rajan holds the distinction of being youngest person to hold the post of Economic Counsellor and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He is also considered to be one of the first people to see the financial crisis of 2008 coming.
On November 3, 2008, the Government appointed him as ‘Honorary Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister’ in the rank and status of Secretary to the Government. He also chaired High Level Committee on Financial Sector Reforms in 2007.
He held the position of Economic Counsellor and Director of Research between October 2003 and December 2006. Since then, he is Eric J. Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
His research is broadly on the role of institutions, especially financial institutions, in fostering economic development. In 2003, he was awarded the inaugural Fischer Black Prize by the American Finance Association for contributions to finance by an economist under 40.
After completed schooling from Delhi Public School, R K Puram, he did his graduation in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He completed his M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and his Ph.D. from MIT.