Arun Jaitley returns to take charge as finance minister

New Delhi: Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday resumed charge of finance and corporate affairs ministries after over three months during which he underwent a surgery for kidney transplant.

Mr Jaitley has resumed office at a time when Rupee had hit a new low of Rs 70 against dollar, there are concerns over widening of current account deficit (CAD), increase in import bills and a looming global trade war which could hit the world economy.

Mr Jaitley, 65, had undergone a renal transplant operation on May 14 at AIIMS. In the interim, Minister for Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal was handling the charge of the finance and corporate affairs ministries. 

After assuming the charge, he had a hour long meeting with senior officials  including Finance Secretary Hashmukh Adhia and also the chairpersons of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC). 

The meeting was also attended by expenditure secretary A.N. Jha, financial services secretary Rajiv Kumar and corporate affairs secretary Injeti Srinivas.

Mr Jaitley was in office for around two-and-half-hours before returning home.

According to sources, Mr Jaitley resumed office after getting a clearance from his doctors.

He is reported to have been advised by doctors to cut his public interaction to the minimum to protect him from contracting any infection. 

The limited visitors to his room were required to be sanitised to curb the risk of spreading infection. “The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has directed to assign the portfolios of the minister of finance and minister of corporate affairs to shri Arun Jaitley,” said a a communiqué from the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday morning. 

After surgery Mr Jaitley was active on social media, writing blogs on economy, emergency,  no-confidence motion in parliament, rafale fighter jet deal and the GST among others.

He also participated in a couple of events like banking conclave and the first anniversary of the launch of GST through video conferencing. Mr Jaitley had held at least one meeting with ministry officials through video conferencing after the surgery. 

He made his first public appearance in Parliament for a few hours to participate in the election for the deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha on August 9.