Former CEA Krishnamurthy V Subramanian appointed as next India ED at IMF

The centre has appointed former Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian as the next Executive Director representing India at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Subramanian’s three-year tenure as India’s top representative at the multilateral institution begins on November 1, and he will replace the current incumbent – economist Surjit Bhalla.

An order stated that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Subramanian, who is currently professor (finance) at the Indian School of Business, to the post of Executive Director (India) at the IMF for a period of three years. It also said that Bhalla’s ‘curtailed’ tenure will end on October 31 this year.

When contacted, Bhalla clarified that his tenure had been cut short by only nine days. “My tenure was to end on November 9, and the IMF rules require that new EDs be appointed by October 31,” Bhalla told Business Standard.

The India ED also represents Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, along with another appointee from one of these countries.

As CEA before V Anantha Nageswaran, Subramanian drafted three Economic Surveys - 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. He ended his stint in the Finance Ministry in December 2021.

Subramanian had batted for a counter-cyclical fiscal policy in the 2020-21 survey and paved the way for record government spending and fiscal expansion as important tools in the fight against the economic slowdown due to COVID-19.

He had recommended a massive increase in healthcare spending in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and regulator for the sector, and criticised credit ratings agencies by saying their assessment of India did not match its fundamentals.

In his last survey, Subramanian had slammed ‘asleep at the wheels’ bank boards and auditors for the non-performing asset (NPA) crisis, suggested that the RBI should penalise auditors wherever ever-greening of toxic loans happen, and had recommended another round of bank recapitalization.