RBI Gets a World-Class Economist as Governor

 NEW DELHI: Traditionally, the chief economic advisor, a professional economist in a sea of bureaucrats, sat in one corner of the North Block. But weeks after taking charge as the government's chief economist, RaghuramRajan moved into a first floor room, adjacent to finance minister P Chidambaram's, signalling a shift in power equations.

In the year that Rajan has spent on Raisina Hill, he has gained in stature and enjoys the confidence that few of his predecessors enjoyed. From being an economist focused on banking and finance, Raghu, as colleagues call him, was slowly initiated into complex issues dealing with the political economy in a chaotic democracy.

Walking into office in the midst of a full-blown fiscal crisis, Rajan surprised many with the ease with which he handled the pressures of dealing with an unwieldy fiscal deficit and other pressing macro-economic challenges.