New Delhi, Aug 11 - The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council was reconstituted Tuesday with C. Rangarajan, former governor of India's central bank, back as its chairman.

The council is mandated to advise the prime minister on policy matters referred to it from time to time, apart from preparing a monthly report on various developments in India and overseas.

It monitors economic trends on a regular basis and bring to the prime minister's attention important developments at home and abroad and suggests suitable policy responses.

Its members now are Saumitra Chaudhuri from rating agency ICRA, Govinda Rao from the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Vijay Shankar Vyas from the Asian Society of Agricultural Economists and Suman K. Bery from the National Council of Applied Economic Research.

While the chairman enjoys the rank of a cabinet minister, the others have the rank of a minister of state. Rangarajan was the first chairman when the prime minister set up the council in December 2004.

Since last year, it was headed by economist Suresh Tendulkar.