New Delhi: The government on Friday appointed Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB) Associate Professor Krishnamurthy Subramanian, a supporter of the demonitisation move, as the Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) in the Finance Ministry for a period of three years.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Executive Director (Centre For Analytical Finance), ISB, to the post of CEA, the Department of Personnel and Training said.
A PhD (Financial Economics) from the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, and an alumnus of IIM Calcutta and IIT Kanpur, Subramanian is an expert in banking, corporate governance and economic policy.
His services on the expert committees on corporate governance for Securities and Exchange Board of India and on governance of banks for the Reserve Bank of India have established him as one of the chief architects of corporate governance and banking reforms in India, the ISB website says.
Krishnamurthy Subramanian, a professor from the Indian School of Business, will serve a three-year term in the Finance Ministry. His predecessor, Arvind Subramanian, abruptly left the post for personal reasons in June.
While studying for his doctorate at the University of Chicago, Subramanian was supervised by Raghuram Rajan, a former International Monetary Fund chief economist who served as governor of the Reserve Bank of India for three years until late 2016.
Shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial decision in 2016 to withdraw most of the country's banknotes from circulation overnight, Subramanian defended the measure, which had been aimed at hitting money launderers and tax evaders.
He co-authored an article in a business newspaper that described criticism as the result of "exaggerated claims of disingenuous politicians who profess to be fighting for the poor".
There is an ongoing struggle for influence between economic liberals and more protectionist minded advisors, and both Arvind Subramanian and Rajan have criticised government policies after leaving their posts.
During recent weeks a row erupted between central bankers, who fear the RBI is at risk of losing autonomy, and officials in the central government.
