Who will be next chief economic advisor of India?

New Delhi, Dec 16: After completing successful three years in the finance ministry, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian will step down from the post to return to academia. Reportedly, the government has shortlisted three candidates for the position of chief economic advisor (CEA) and a final announcement would be made this week.

Poonam Gupta, director general, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER); Sanjeev Sanyal, principal economic advisor in the finance ministry; and Pami Dua, head of the department of economics at the Delhi School of Economics are the frontrunners for the top post.

Poonam Gupta: Currently the Director General of NCAER and a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). Before joining NCAER, she was Lead Economist, Global Macro and Market Research, International Finance Corporation (IFC); and Lead Economist for India at the World Bank.

Sanjeev Sanyal: Sanjeev Sanyal is an Indian economist and popular historian. Currently, he is the Principal Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

Pami Dua: A director and professor at the Delhi School of Economics, Dua has serious contributions to business analysis. Studied at London School of Economics, Dua is one of the most respected macroeconomic professors in India.

The filling up of new CEA post is crucial as the government set to prepare the Economic Survey for FY22, which is tabled in parliament a day before the budget.

The government had appointed Subramanian, an ISB Hyderabad professor, as the CEA in December 2018. He had succeeded Arvind Subramanian.