Govt Appoints V Anantha Nageswaran as New Chief Economic Advisor

Dr. V Anantha Nageswaran was named as the new Chief Economic Advisor by the government on Friday. The announcement comes just days before the Union Budget is set to be presented on February 1st.

Every year, the CEA, who is a secretary-level official in the finance ministry, is the main architect of the economic survey.

The senior economic advisor and other officials are preparing the survey this year, which will be presented to Parliament by the Finance Minister.

In a statement, the Finance Ministry said, "The Government has appointed Dr. V Anantha Nageswaran as the Chief Economic Advisor, and he has commenced duty today."

Nageswaran's appointment comes just days before the Economic Survey for 2021-22 is released (on January 31) and the Union Budget for 2022-23 is presented (on February 1). Nageswaran succeeds Krishnamurthy Subramanian, who returned to academia following a three-year stint as CEA in December.

"It's still unclear whether Nageswaran would attend the regular post-Economic Survey media conference because he wasn't engaged in its creation," a senior source said.

About Dr. Nageswaran

Dr. Nageswaran, an academic and former executive with Credit Suisse Group AG and Julius Baer Group, follows KV Subramanian, who completed his three-year term as CEA in December 2021.

Nageswaran was a prominent Visiting Professor of Economics at Krea University and the Dean of the IFMR Graduate School of Business until recently. From 2019 to 2021, he was also a part-time member of India's Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council.

Dr. Nageswaran has a master's degree in management from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.