More on Malegam committee

I commented yesterday on the Malegam report on microfinance. A couple of other observations.
The RBI needs to bestow greater thought to the composition of its committees. The Malegam committee, with due respect to the eminence of some of its members, does not have much expertise either on the rural economy or on banking. True, the RBI committees have the benefit of RBI's expertise but simply having people of eminence on such committees does not suffice.

A more serious problem is the presence of two members of the RBI Board, Y H Malegam and Kumaramangalam Birla. It is not a good idea for Board members to take on operational roles. It cannot be that, as members of a committee, they make recommendations and, then, as members of the Board, they sit in judgement on those very recommendations or the actions taken based on these. There is a clear conflict of interest. Surely, this country has enough expertise for committees outside the Board of RBI.