Former Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri passes away

Former Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri passed away in Sir Ganga Ram hospital. He was suffering from lung cancer.

Former Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri passed away in Sir Ganga Ram hospital of the National Capital early on Sunday morning. He was admitted to Sir Gangaram Hospital due to ill health earlier.

"Chaudhuri passed away today morning at 8 am. He was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was admitted in Ganga Ram hospital and his condition had deteriorated in the last three weeks," PTI quoted his nephew Abheek.

Chaudhuri, a noted economist, joined the Planning Commission as Member in June 2009. Prior to that from January 2005 he was a Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Before joining government he was with ICRA Limited, a full service credit rating agency for sixteen years and editor of research publication Money and Finance.

He began his career in the Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices (BICP), Ministry of Industry (1981-83) and later was senior economist in the Joint Plant Committee, Department of Steel (1983-85). Subsequently he was associated with Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and State Bank of India (SBI) (1986-91), besides for short durations with World Bank and UNIDO over the two decades.

He has a basic degree education in Science and studied economics at the Centre for Economic Studies & Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

According to reports, Chaudhuri had said that bfull replacement of banned currency can only be completed by May 2017.

(With PTI inputs)