US Taps Raghuram Rajan, 2 Other Indian-Origin Experts For Key Fed Roles: What Will They Do?

Published 17 July 2026 · local

US Taps Raghuram Rajan, 2 Other Indian-Origin Experts For Key Fed Roles: What Will They Do? Published By, Last Updated: July 17, 2026, 11:33 IST

US Taps Raghuram Rajan, 2 Other Indian-Origin Experts For Key Fed Roles: What Will They Do? Published By, Last Updated: July 17, 2026, 11:33 IST RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, Delhi-born economist Raj Chetty and Indian-origin Microsoft executive Asha Sharma will serve on three separate US Fed task forces. E RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan will be joined by two other Indian-origin experts, senior Microsoft executive Asha Sharma and Delhi-born American economist Raj Chetty. Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, economist Raj Chetty and senior Microsoft executive Asha Sharma have been appointed to key task forces set up by the US Federal Reserve to review how the central bank conducts monetary policy. The three will advise separate panels examining the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, the economic data used in policy decisions and the impact of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies on productivity and employment. The five task forces were announced by newly appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh as part of a wider review of the central bank’s policy tools, analytical frameworks and decision-making processes. The panels will be supported by Federal Reserve staff but will operate independently and submit recommendations to the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, which sets US interest rates and guides monetary policy. What Will Raghuram Rajan’s Panel Examine? Rajan will serve on the Balance Sheet Policy task force alongside Harvard economist Karen Dynan and former Federal Reserve Governor Jeremy Stein. The panel will examine the costs, benefits and institutional implications of the Federal Reserve’s current balance sheet regime. Its work will include assessing the central bank’s holdings of government bonds and other assets, as well as the role those holdings play in implementing monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve significantly expanded its balance sheet through large-scale asset purchases during periods of economic stress. The task force will review whether the existing approach remains appropriate and how balance sheet policy affects the central bank’s broader objectives. Rajan served as RBI governor from 2013 to 2016 and is currently a professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Raj Chetty To Review Data Used In Fed Decisions Delhi-born American economist Raj Chetty will serve on the Data task force with former Walmart chief executive Doug McMillon and University of Chicago economist Kevin Murphy. The group will focus on improving the quality and timeliness of the economic information used by Federal Reserve policymakers. Its mandate is to assess whether the central bank can make greater use of real-time and administrative data to better understand changes in employment, income, spending and economic activity. Official economic indicators are often released after a time lag and may later be revised. The panel will examine how faster and more detailed economic signals can be incorporated into the Federal Reserve’s policy judgements. Chetty, a Harvard University economist, is known for using large administrative and real-time datasets to study economic mobility, inequality and labour markets in the United States. Asha Sharma To Assess AI’s Impact On Jobs Microsoft Executive Vice President and Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been appointed to the Productivity and Jobs task force. She will serve alongside Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and Stanford University economist Charles I Jones. The panel will assess how emerging general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, are affecting productivity, employment and economic growth. Its findings are expected to help the Federal Reserve understand whether technological shifts are changing the economy’s productive capacity, the demand for workers and the relationship between growth, wages and inflation.