Delighted to take on challenge of economy: Arvind Subramanian

Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian, who has been given a one-year extension on his tenure, said that he is well aware of the challenges that the Indian economy is currently facing, adding, he is "delighted to take on the challenge of the economy".

"I am delighted to take on the challenge of the economy. We know what the challenges are. We have to drive growth, investment and exports. The government is working on multiple fronts," Subramanian told ANI.

Subramanian, whose term was to end on October 16, will continue as the CEA for another year, the Ministry of Finance confirmed in a statement.

The principal author of the annual Economic Survey, Subramanian took over as the CEA on October 16, 2014 owing to a vacancy post the appointment of Raghuram Rajan as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor in September 2013.

Named as one of the world's top 100 global thinkers, Subramanian has various accolades to his kitty. Most importantly, he ideated the phrase 'JAM'-Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile, which was introduced in 2015. The 'JAM agenda' aims at empowering the economic stature of the poor, and raise efficiency by reducing leakages and market distortions.

He was ranked amongst the top one percent of the world's academic economists in terms of citation of research, according to the widely used REPEC rankings.

An alumnus of St. Stephens College, Delhi; Subramanian pursued his education at the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, India; and University of Oxford.