No decision on appointment of Chief Economic Advisor

NEW DELHI: The Finance Ministry has not yet decided on the name of the new Chief Economic Advisor, a top official said.

According to the official, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has met several people but has not finalised the name.

The post of CEA has been lying vacant since Raghuram Rajan left the Finance Ministry to join the Reserve Bank as Governor in September last year.

There were speculations that US-based economist Arvind Subramanian may be appointed as Chief Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry.

Subramanian, an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad, is the Dennis Weatherstone senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics.

A graduate from St Stephens College, Subramanian has been advising the Indian government in different capacities and has been a member of the Finance Minister's Expert Group on the G-20.