Arvind Subramanian set to be Chief Economist

New Delhi: U.S based economist Arvind Subramanian is poised to be named as chief economic adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, two sources at the finance ministry said on Friday. 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, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, 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.

Mr Modi stormed to a general election victory in May with a pledge to lift the economy out of its worst slowdown in a quarter of a century and put to work the one million young people who enter the workforce each month. The nationalist leader has abolished a Soviet-style Planning Commission.