The government on Saturday announced the extension of Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian’s term by a year. His three-year tenure was due to end on October 16.
On his extended term, the economist told ANI he was “delighted to take on the challenges”.
Subramanian is considered Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s right hand man. He took over the post after it was lying vacant for over a year after his predecessor Raghuram Rajan was appointed the Reserve Bank of India governor in September 2013.
In the Economic Survey on January 31, Subramanian had focused on India’s GDP growth after demonetisation and also floated the idea of a Universal Basic Income scheme.
He had been criticised by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in June last year, when Swamy had questioned the economist’s stand on Intellectual Property Rights and also said that Subramanian was responsible for the Congress’ stand on the Goods and Services Tax. But Jaitley had come to his defence, saying it was “an unfair and false attack on a disciplined civil servant in the Finance Ministry”.
In 2011, Subramanian was named among the top 100 thinkers of the world by Foreign Policy.
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