Subramanian likely to be next CEA

A strong critic of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's maiden budget, US-based economist Arvind Subramanian is a frontrunner to become his top advisor in the finance ministry.

The post has been lying vacant for nearly a year after the earlier incumbent Raghuram Rajan became Governor to the Reserve Bank of India. According to sources in the finance ministry, Subramanian’s appointment is near imminent.

If the government approves his appointment, Subramanian, a Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, will be the second successive economist of global repute to be appointed as chief economic advisor in the finance ministry after Rajan.

In an article on the Peterson Institute’s website, Subramanian had criticised Jaitley’s first budget as “disappointing but retrievable”.