Former CEA KV Subramanian Is India’s New Executive Director To IMF

The government on August 25 appointed former chief economic adviser KV Subramanian as the Executive Director (ED) for India at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to an official order.

Subramanian's tenure, which would begin November onwards, is for a period of three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier. His appointment curtails the tenure of economist Surjit S Bhalla, who was serving as ED (India), IMF, till October 31.

“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Professor (Finance), Indian School of Business and former Chief Economic Adviser to the post of Executive Director (India) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), w.e.f 01.11.2022 for a period of three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier by curtailing the tenure of Dr. Surjit S. Bhalla as ED (India), IMF up to 31.10.2022," according to the order.

Bhalla, who was appointed ED (India) to IMF in 2019, succeeded late Subir Gokarn who was former deputy governor at the Reserve Bank of India. Subramanian demitted the office of the CEA last year in December after completing his three-year tenure and returned to academia as a professor in Indian School of Business. He was appointed as the CEA in 2018 and succeeded Arvind Subramanian.

Subramanian’s last Economic Survey made a strong pitch for an increased health outlay because of the pandemic and also pushed for a regulator for the sector. Subramanian has also been vocal in his criticism of credit rating agencies and their assessment of India, which, according to him, did not reflect the country's true potential.

His tenure as the CEA was marked by a rough patch for the Indian economy. The slowdown that began before the pandemic only got worse with the outbreak of Covid-19. Several studies have shown that the working class, especially migrant workers, were the worst impacted by the pandemic. Some markers do point towards recovery, but several of these are aided by a low-base effect.

Subramanian completed his MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and has a PhD in financial economics from University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He studied electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.