World economy facing challenges, India no exception: Raghuram Rajan

New Delhi:

Raghuram G. Rajan could not have chosen a better time to take over as the Chief Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry. Or a worse time.

Although Rajan is no stranger to the current turbulence in the Indian economy, having served as the honorary economic adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he is now a key member of the Finance Minister’s team with the unenviable task of putting the economy in order.

"(The) world economy faces very serious challenges right now and India is no exception. I hope that over the coming days, I can help in whatever solution we devise,” he told reporters after taking charge.

In his stellar career, the IIT-IIM alumnus has served as the Economic Counselor and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. He has also taught at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago.

The economist, who received his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been credited with predicting the 2008 global financial crisis, an intuitiveness which Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will bank on to help him guide the economy to a growth track. Rajan was also involved with the report on financial sector reforms authorized by the Planning Commission.

A selection committee cleared the appointment of Rajan on August 10. The post had been lying vacant after Kaushik Basu returned to the US to teach in Cornell University.”

He met Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia earlier in the day.

Rajan, who reportedly did not apply for the post, said: “I am glad to be here.”