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Arvind Subramanian Appointed Chief Economic Adviser To Indian Government By Modi
published on : 10-17-2014
Category : Appointments
A high-powered academic who tells his students to read Joseph Conrad and Gabriel Garcia Marquez to better understand economic development was confirmed on Thursday as chief economic adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Ending two months of uncertainty, U.S.-based economist Arvind Subramanian announced at an impromptu news conference that he had got the job, on a day of drama in which the finance ministry's top civil servant was sacked. His appointment inserts a friend of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan at the heart of policy making, as Modi seeks to make good on a jobs-and-growth pledge that swept him to power in a general election in May. "I have just taken charge as chief economic adviser," Subramanian told reporters outside the finance ministry. "It is a great honor ... to serve in a government that has a mandate for reform and change." Setting out his priorities, Subramanian said: "For any economy like India, two big things are macro-economic stability and, of course, creating the conditions for rapid investments and growth." News of Subramanian's candidacy first leaked in August, and his confirmation marks a victory for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who lobbied hard to bring him on board in the face of initial skepticism from Modi. His appointment followed news that Arvind Mayaram, the finance ministry's top civil servant, had been abruptly moved to another job in the ministry for tourism. Mayaram was the official in charge of drafting Jaitley's maiden budget in July, which Subramanian panned in a newspaper column as "disappointing but retrievable". Subramanian's new job gives him considerable influence over the next budget, due in February, as expectations grow for significant reforms to free up the Indian economy. Associates describe Subramanian, who held senior fellowships at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Center for Global Development, as a forthright intellectual. "The most important thing to know about Arvind, aside from his first-rate credentials as an economist, is that he is a truth-teller," said Milan Vaishnav, an India expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
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