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New team soon to draft Budget

Ashok Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Oct. 29

LIKE history repeating itself, it is going to be a new-look Finance Ministry at North Block this November too, for the second year in succession, that will engage itself in the Budget-making exercise for the next fiscal.

Though the changes being contemplated in the Ministry's bureaucratic top brass are still in the realms of conjecture -- more so as it will form part of a larger Secretary-level reshuffle -- the selection of candidates for induction as advisors in the Eco nomic Division under the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the Ministry is, by and large, final.

According to informed sources in the Ministry, barring the Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, and a few veteran officials of the Ministry's Budget Division, it will be a brand new team that will be in place by the middle of November at the latest, ready to ini tiate work on the annual ritual of balancing figures.

Sources confirmed that the Advisor to the Finance Minister, Dr Rakesh Mohan, currently on a week's leave, will be relinquishing his post on October 31. And, as of now, barring last-minute hitches, the economist most likely to replace Dr Mohan is Dr Ashok Lahiri, who is currently heading the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) as Director.

Sources said that Mr Arvind Virmani, who has had a long stint in the Economic Division earlier as Senior Economic Advisor, was also in the running for the post of Advisor. However, the selection of Dr Lahiri, specialised in public finance and external se ctor, is deemed to be almost certain. In this regard, sources noted that Dr Lahiri has already had a meeting with the Finance Minister for defining his role and responsibilities as Advisor.

Once inducted as Advisor to the Finance Minister, Dr Lahiri would be designated as Chief Economic Advisor sometime around September-October next year, the time when Dr Shankar Acharya, who is currently on a sabbatical, completes his tenure.

Another appointment in the same division as Senior Economic Advisor -- a post that has till now been left vacant following the exit of Mr Virmani -- is likely to be that of Dr Narendra Yadav in the equivalent rank of Additional Secretary. Dr Yadav is bas ically a banking official, having served in the Reserve Bank of India and has also completed his tenure in the office of the Executive Director in the International Monetary Fund. While Dr Tarun Das is the other contender for the post, the only hitch cur rently obstructing Dr Yadav's appointment is the mandatory vigilance clearance.

To further strengthen the Economic Division in the DEA, Dr Ajay Shah has already been appointed as Consultant. Dr Shah, who was earlier with Mr Kirit Parikh's Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research (IGIDR) in Mumbai, specialises in financial ma rkets and derivatives. He is said to have joined about a week ago.