K V Subramanian steps down as govt's chief economic adviser

He took over from Arvind Subramanian who had left due to personal reasons in June 2018

K V Subramanian on Friday stepped down as Chief Economic Adviser after a 3-year tenure. He said he has decided to return to academia.

The government had appointed Subramanian, a ISB Hyderabad professor, as the CEA in December 2018. He had succeeded Arvind Subramanaian. In a statement, Subramanian thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for their support and inspiring leadership. "I have decided to return back to academia following the completion of my 3-year fulfilling tenure," he said.
 

Subramanian holds an MBA and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in financial economics from University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His PhD was completed under the supervision of former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan. He is also an alumnus of the IIT, Kanpur where he studied electrical engineering, as well as Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

"I have decided to return back to academia following the completion of my 3-year fulfilling tenure. Serving The nation has been an absolute privilege and I have wonderful support and encouragement," he said on Twitter.

This decade will be India's decade of inclusive growth during which it will clock over 7 per cent annual growth on the back of strong economic fundamentals, Subramanian recently said while highlighting the country's reform process and its ability to convert the crisis into an opportunity that helped it to stand out from the rest of the world.

Exuding confidence over India's economic potential, Subramanian told an American audience from the corporate sector that "the fundamentals of the economy were strong, even before the pandemic. There were only financial problems." “Mark my words, this decade will be India's decade of inclusive growth. In FY'23, we expect growth to be between 6.5 to 7 per cent and then accelerating further as the impact of these reforms is seen," he said while addressing a virtual event organised by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).

“When you look at the data itself, the V-shaped recovery and the quarterly growth patterns actually establish the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Looking forward, the kind of reforms that we've done and the supply side measures that we've taken will enable actually strong growth not only this year going forward as well,” said the top Indian economist. Growth will be aided by various structural reforms, including labour and farm laws, undertaken by the government, he said.

Subramanian said from the long-run perspective, India is the only country that for the last 18 to 20 months has done so many structural reforms.