Arvind Subramanian Likely to Be Chief Economic Adviser to the PM-Modi
NEW DELHI : Noted US-based economist Arvind Subramanian is poised to be named as chief economic adviser to the Narendra Modi government, sources at the finance ministry said.The post has been vacant since Raghuram Rajan became the governor of the Reserve Bank last year.
Mr Subramanian is currently a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Center for Global Development. An alumnus of St. Stephens College, Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad, he obtained his M.Phil and D.Phil from the University of Oxford.In 2011, Foreign Policy magazine named him among Top 100 Thinkers.
If confirmed, the appointment would bring a second economist of international renown to a key policy post following the naming of former International Monetary Fund chief economist Raghuram Rajan as Reserve Bank of India chief last year. Mr Subramanian name was recommended to the post by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Cabinet-level approval is expected to follow.”He is likely to be appointed soon,” one of the sources said.
He has also been an adviser to the Indian government in different capacities, including as a member of the Finance Minister’s Expert Group on the G-20.Mr Subramanian taught at Johns Hopkins’ School for Advanced International Studies from 2008 to 2010 and at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government from 1999 to 2000. He has also served as an assistant director in the research department of the International Monetary Fund. During the
Mr Subramanian also served at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) from 1988 to 1992 during the Uruguay round of trade negotiations. He has written extensively on subjects like growth, international trade, and World Trade Organization. He is also the author of ‘Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China’s Economic Dominance’ and co-author of “Who Needs to Open the Capital Account.’
