NEW DELHI : The government will extend the term of chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian by one year till October 2018, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday.  Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, was appointed India’s chief economic adviser (CEA) in October 2014. His term was for three years, which was to end on 16 October.

Interacting with reporters in New Delhi, Jaitley said Subramanian will get one year extension. The BJP-led NDA government’s 5-year term ends in May 2019. The CEA is usually the main go-to person for advice for the finance minister on macro-economic matters, and primary responsibilities, among others, include authoring the mid-year analysis and the Economic Survey.

Subramanian’s predecessor was Raghuram Rajan, who quit the position in September 2013 after being appointed the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Subramanian graduated from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and got an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He obtained M.Phil and D.Phil from the University of Oxford, UK.

The Ministry had, earlier in the week, denied that Mr. Subramanian was resigning after media outlets reported he might do so before his tenure was completed. Mr. Subramanian’s term as CEA has been marked by dynamic suggestions and analysis to do with the economy — including coining of the term ‘JAM trinity’ (for Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile) and elaborating on its benefits.

The CEA has also mooted the idea of a ‘bad bank’ to deal with the persistent problem of non-performing assets (NPAs) afflicting the balance sheets of banks and corporates, and of a Universal Basic Income.