MUMBAI: After a surprise cancellation of the credit policy meet scheduled for 1 October, the government on Monday appointed Ashima Goyal, Shashanka Bhide and Jayanth Varma to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) rate-setting panel (Monetary Policy Committee)

The credit policy meet was put off as the three external members - Pami Dua, Chetan Ghate and Ravindra Dholakia - were yet to be replaced after completing their terms.

Among the new appointees, Varma is professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He teaches courses in capital markets, fixed income, alternative investments, risk management and corporate finance. He has been the Dean of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad for three years.

Bhide, senior advisor at National Council for Applied Economic Research, has a PhD in Agricultural Economics, Iowa State University. He also serves as a member of the board of governors of the Institute for Social and Economic Change in Bangalore.

Goyal is a part time member of the Prime Ministers economic advisory council. A visiting fellow at the Economic Growth Centre, Yale University, USA, and a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow at Claremont Graduate University, she is currently a professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai. She is an expert in macroeconomics and has published a number of journals and books.