New team to steer economy

Arvind Subramanian is Chief Economic Adviser

With the appointment of former IMF economist Arvind Subramanian as the Chief Economic Adviser and Rajasthan cadre IAS officer Rajiv Mehrishi as the finance secretary, the Narendra Modi government has brought in a new team to steer the economy, five months after it came to power.

Mr. Subramanian, earlier a senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, is pronouncedly pro-market. He has in the past argued for quicker subsidy reforms, fast introduction of GST, and faster deficit reduction than the temporal target set by the government.

The medium term fiscal policy envisages a progressive reduction of the deficit to three per cent of the GDP by 2016-17.

His appointment is a bold signal from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a ministry official told The Hindu . “Mr. Subramanian was critical of the first budget, but that he still gets this job is a clear signal that the government is serious about reforms.”

Mr. Mehrishi replaces Arvind Mayaram, who has been appointed the new Tourism Secretary. Mr. Mehrishi is also known to be pro-market and has been handpicked by Mr. Jaitley.

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