India could get its first woman Chief Economic Advisor, says report

Poonam Gupta, is currently the lead economist for India at World Bank

India may soon get its first woman chief economic advisor (CEA) after Arvind Subramanian's early resignation. The former CEA's tenure under the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was supposed to end on May 2019. However, Subramanian resigned in June 2018 - a year earlier on account of 'pressing family interests'. 

According to The Economic Times report, the government is looking for fresh candidates for the post for one of the most important advisory roles in the administration and to help with advice in times of global turmoil, though only about six months of the current government's term remains.

One of the prominent candidates is Poonam Gupta, lead economist for India at the World Bank. Prior to joining the Bank, she was the Reserve Bank of India Chair Professor at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). 

“We are looking at fresh faces and a committee is looking at candidates,” a person familiar with the development told ET.

It has also set up a search committee headed by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Bimal Jalan to look for Subramanian's successor. 

Other names on the radar include Sajjid Chinoy, chief India economist at JPMorgan, and Krishnamurthy Subramanian, a professor at the Indian School of Business, reported ET. 

Moreover, even in the past, two chief economic advisors, Raghuram Rajan and Arvind Subramanian had an IMF-World Bank experience and an academic background. Gupta's appointment will add to the trend. 

Before Gupta's nomination, Ila Patnaik was the principal economic advisor to the government from May 2014 to December 2015, part of the period when there was no CEA as Rajan had moved to the RBI as governor and the incoming Modi government had not yet appointed a successor. She the economic survey for FY14.