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While Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set the general direction, neither speaks publicly on monetary policy on a regular basis.

Below are profiles of key players and their recent statements on inflation, growth and monetary policy.

The Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly raised interest rates on July 2, and is widely forecast to lift rates by another quarter-percentage point at its scheduled review on July 27 and tighten monetary policy further throughout the year.

Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister

The no-nonsense Mukherjee, who sits at the top of India’s economic policymaking apparatus, said the rate rise on July 2 was appropriate but added he hoped it would be “subsumed” in the July 27 review, an indication he does not want a drastic rate rise.

A Congress party stalwart who is a trouble-shooter on contentious issues, the 74-year old West Bengal native also said there was no question of rolling back the government’s recent increase in fuel prices.

Raising fuel prices will help contain India’s fiscal deficit but may lift headline inflation by nearly 1 percentage point and led to Monday’s nationwide strike called by the opposition.

A confidante of both Singh and Gandhi and favouring Nehru-style jackets, Mukherjee will meet with RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao on July 23.

In late June, Mukherjee said that while he was concerned about double-digit inflation he was confident it can be tamed by a strong harvest and increased food output.

Firmly in the left-of-centre camp of the Congress party that espouses “inclusive growth,” Mukherjee backs spending on social programmes such as a rural jobs guarantee scheme and is considered neither a deficit hawk nor an aggressive reformer.

During Mukherjee’s first stint as finance minister in the 1980s, Singh served as the RBI governor.

Duvvuri Subbarao, Reserve Bank Of India Governor

A veteran of the finance ministry, Subbarao, 60, has often uses the element of surprise when setting monetary policy.

The off-cycle move on July 2 was the second since March, and came after observers had grown increasingly confident that the RBI would hold off until July 27 before tightening.

While Subbarao had been perceived to be more pliable to finance ministry pressure than his predecessor, Y.V. Reddy, he has increasingly shown independence by raising rates outside the quarterly cycle and against New Delhi’s pro-growth mantra.

The RBI statement on July 2 indicated that it had not raised rates sooner because of unexpected tightness in financial system after costly telecoms licence payments soaked up liquidity.

Unlike some of his deputies, Subbarao is not given to making off-the-cuff remarks.

Ashok Chawla, Finance Secretary

The top bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry, Chawla’s duties include coordination between the ministry and the central bank, articulating the government’s positions to Subbarao.

Accessible and friendly, he is a frequently quoted, and markets sometimes move on his statements.

Like others in the government, he tends to play down concerns about inflation, and said on Monday he expects inflation to ease to around 6 percent by December, far below 10.16% in May.

Subir Gokarn, RBI Deputy Governor

The newest of the four RBI deputy governors, Gokarn joined the central bank last year from ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, where he was Asia-Pacific chief economist, and is the only deputy who is directly involved inmonetary policy.

Tall, with distinctive silver hair and beard, the 50-year-old Gokarn’s remarks have tended toward the dovish.

He noted on July 1 that developments in Europe show that post-crisis weakness remains, and said the central bank was keeping an eye on Europe as it makes monetary policy. That added to the surprise when the RBI raised rates the following day.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman

Famous for his blue turban and clipped beard, the man known simply as “Montek” is a powerful bureaucrat whose influence is greater than his title would suggest.

Allied with the pro-growth camp in New Delhi, he said on July 5 that India can manage both growth and inflation.

“By the end of this year, inflation will be back in a comfortable range,” the 66-year-old said.

Along with Singh and then-Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Ahluwalia was an architect of moves in 1991 to liberalise the economy, which set India on its current expansion trajectory.

Smooth-talking and approachable, Ahluwalia, 66, frequently speaks on data and policy. Although his comments are often more academic than official, they are closely followed by markets.

Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Adviser, Finance Ministry

A relative newcomer to government, Basu took his post late last year after 15 years as professor at Cornell University in the United States, raising the profile of the position. He is in favour both of growth and reforms and has the ear of Mukherjee.

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