New Delhi: Former Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research Vice Chancellor S Mahendra Dev has taken charge as the new Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). The eminent economist replaced Niti Aayog vice chairman Suman Bery, who was holding the additional charge of EAC-PM. The EAC-PM had been without a full-time chairman since last November, following the death of its first chairman, Bibek Debroy.

An order issued by the Cabinet Secretariat had earlier said the prime minister approved the re-constitution of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister for two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier. While three full-time members – Sanjeev Sanyal, Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Shamika Ravi – have been retained, new part-time members appointed include Soumya Kanti Ghosh (group chief economic advisor at SBI).

Other part-time members are Rakesh Mohan, Sajid Chenoy, Neelkanth Misra, Nilesh Shah, TT Ram Mohan, KV Raju, Chetan Ghate, Pami Dua, Pulak Ghosh and Gourav Vallabh. Dev also previously worked as the editor of Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) and independent director of Axis Bank.

He completed his MPhil and PhD from the Delhi School of Economics and Post-doctoral research at Yale University (USA). He has written and edited 22 books and around 150 research publications on development economics, macroeconomic policies, the agricultural sector and rural economy.