CEA missing in action

The Union finance ministry has been without a chief economic advisor or CEA for a little more than five months. This may well be a record of sorts. Since Raghuram G Rajan, the last incumbent in North Block, shifted to Mint Road as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in the first week of September 2013, the government has been toying with several names to fill the gap but has so far taken no decision. A couple of months ago the government had almost made up its mind to appoint Siddharth Tiwari of the International Monetary Fund as its next CEA. But for some unexplained reasons, the appointment did not come through and the vacancy remains unfilled. With no compulsion to present the Economic Survey this month (there will be only an interim Budget in view of the forthcoming elections), the long wait for a CEA may well continue for another couple of months until the elections are over and the new government is in place to take that call. Senior advisors within the Bharatiya Janata Party believe that if their party forms the next government, the choice of the next CEA is likely to fall on Arvind Panagariya, professor at Columbia University.