Subramanian steps down before term
Arun Jaitley announces chief economic advisor’s departure in a blog post
Union minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday announced Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian’s departure in an unusual way through a blog on Facebook. Subramanian will step down within the next two months, after nearly four years in the role. His tenure with the government, extended last year, was to run till May 2019.
“A few days ago Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian met me over video-conferencing. He informed me that he would like to go back to the US on account of pressing family commitments. His reasons were personal but extremely important for him. He left me with no option but to agree,” Jaitley wrote.
Sources said this was the latest of the many discussions that Jaitley and Subramanian had over the latter’s departure.
According to sources, the process of identifying Subramanian’s successor has been under way for two months. The contenders include Rathin Roy of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Neelkanth Mishra of Credit Suisse, Jahangir Aziz of JP Morgan, Ruchir Sharma of Morgan Stanley, and Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal.
A number of people who had been approached had sought Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) contracts instead of the normal three-year contract, sources added. This is something the government is not in favour of. A UPSC contract allows a person appointed to stay on till the retirement age of 60. And the government will have to follow due process, starting with placing advertisements in newspapers.
“THIS IS THE BEST JOB I WILL EVER HAVE... I WILL GO BACK WITH THE BEST OF MEMORIES”
ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN
Subramanian informed Jaitley directly of his decision, and not Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, since his discussions had been going on with the former, sources said. Subramanian was waiting for Jaitley to resume duties after a kidney transplant surgery before informing him that he would not be able to delay his departure anymore.
Subramanian said he had informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his decision after consulting Jaitley.
Talking to reporters later in the day, Subramanian said he was expecting the birth of his first grandchild in the first week of September, and hence was returning to research and academics in the US. He was yet undecided on the exact date of leaving the finance ministry, but it would be in a month or two. Subramanian called his stint in the finance ministry the best job and "also the best job I will ever have". He added that in Jaitley he had a ‘dream boss’. "I will go back with the best of memories. I will always be committed to serving the country at all times in the future," he said.
Subramanian was appointed CEA on October 16, 2014, for a period of three years. In 2017, his term was extended till the end of the current government’s tenure. Earlier in his blog post, Jaitley had written that on the expiry of rates of the goods and services Subramanian's three-year tax (GST) were not accepted. term in October last year, he “I am sure that with age had requested him to continue on his side, Arvind for some more time. Subramanian will return to
"Even at that stage he told serve under a future government. me that he was torn between I thank him for describing family commitments and his the UPA years of 2005current job, which he considered 2010 as the "boom period" of the best and most fulfilling the Indian economy,” he had ever done," the Chidambaram added. minister said. When Subramanian, a
"Personally I will miss his Senior Fellow at the Peterson dynamism, energy, intellectual Institute for International ability and ideas. He would Economics, was appointed the walk into my room several CEA in October 2014, perhaps times a day addressing me as he himself did not anticipate ‘Minister’ to give either the how eventful his tenure would good news or otherwise. be. The biggest impact he left Needless to say, his departure on the policy and economic will be missed by me. But I landscape was through the know that his heart is very Economic Surveys. They have much here. I am sure he will stood out for starting debates keep sending advice and and discussions on a number analysis wherever he is," of issues, including providing Jaitley wrote in his blog post. targeted government services
Commenting on through the ‘JAM trinity’ of Subramanian’s departure, former Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile, finance minister P the launch of a bad bank, the Chidambaram said: “I am disappointed, problem of twin balance but not surprised, sheets, universal basic income that Arvind Subramanian has for the poor, the concept of decided to leave the government ‘stigmatised capitalism’ and in before the end of his the last Survey, a portion on term. He was either not consulted India’s ‘unwanted’ missing or his views were women. These surveys have brushed aside on many important been widely read in India and issues.” Chidambaram across the world, and have also was referring to the fact that become part of the syllabus in the CEA was not consulted on various universities and demonetisation and his recommendations on possible
colleges.