India's newly appointed Finance Minister, Arjun Jaitley, has drawn a mixed response from investors amid concerns about his scant background in economics and a potential clash with the central bank over interest rates.
Earlier this week, Jaitley was named head of both India's finance and defense ministries in the new administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jaitley, 61, a prominent corporate lawyer and former commerce minister, is said to be a close confidante of Modi.
"A few things that people associate with the name Arjun Jaitley: he's the right hand man of Modi so presumably he will pursue a pro-reform agenda, but he doesn't have a background in economics. That's a concern for the markets," said Nizam Idris, managing director and head of strategy, fixed income and currencies at Macquarie.
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