Nripendra Mishra appointed Modi's principal secretary

Nripendra Mishra, former chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, was Wednesday appointed principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While talk about Mishra's appointment has been doing the rounds, the official intimation of his appointment was issued Wednesday.

Mishra, a 1967 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre Indian Administrative Service officer, has served in various administrative positions. He will replace Pulok Chatterjee, who was principal secretary to former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Serving as secretary in the fertilizers and telecom ministry, Mishra was chairman of TRAI after his retirement from service and served from March 2006 to March 2009.

Mishra is on the executive council of the Vivekananda International Foundation, a think tank that has former Intelligence Bureau chief Ajit Doval as its director. Doval is widely tipped to be the national security advisor in the Modi government.

From 1981 to 1985, he was also director in the International Monetary Fund-World Bank Division in the department of economic affairs in the finance ministry.