Economist Dr. Rajiv Kumar has been appointed as the new vice-chairman of the government think tank NITI Aayog.
Present vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya had stepped down earlier this month.
The Columbia University professor will be returning to the U.S. to rejoin academia.
The spokesperson added that Dr. Vinod Paul, paediatrician at AIIMS, has also been appointed as a member of the NITI Aayog.
Dr. Kumar, who holds a DPhil in economics from Oxford and a Ph. D from Lucknow University, has served as director and chief executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), and has earlier worked with the Asian Development Bank.
He was also a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research.
Kumar, a former CEO of Delhi-based think-tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), will replace Arvind Panagariya.
Kumar is currently the founding director of Pahle India Foundation, a non-profit research organisation that specialises in policy-oriented research and analysis.
He is also chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics in Pune.
Until January this year, he was a senior fellow at Centre for Policy Research (CPR), and is widely regarded for his work in the areas of India’s economy and national security.
Before coming to CPR, he was Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
He has also served as Director and Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and chief economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), as well as in positions with the Asian Development Bank, the Indian Ministry of Industries, and the Ministry of Finance.
His latest books are: Modi & His Challenges (2016), Resurgent India: Ideas and Priorities (2015) and Exploding Aspirations: Unlocking India's Future (2014).
Kumar will take over as the second Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog.
Panagariya will demit office on August 31 at the nascent institution that was set up in January 2015 replacing the erstwhile Planning Commission.
The NITI Aayog is currently drafting a 15-year long-term plan, which will replace the practice of five-year plans.
The five-year plan system will be discontinued after the end of the 12th five year plan in 2017, ending six-decade old policy framework inspired by the Gosplan-aided industrialisation.
Kumar will also likely head the NITI Aayog panel that is modernising India’s labour data to give a more realistic picture about the jobs market in an economy characterised by a large informal sector.
Kumar concurrently serves as:- a government-nominated independent director on Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India,
- a member of the International Board of Management of King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre, Riyadh;
- director, Institute of Human Development, Delhi;
- director, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow;
- independent director on the Board of DHFL; and member, Advisory Board of CISCO, India.
In the past, he served as the Indian government’s nominee on the boards of Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and Asia (ERIA) Jakarta.
He was also on Central Board of the State Bank of India (SBI), Mumbai; Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi; Part Time Member, National Security Advisory Board (2006-2008).
He was also Part Time Member Economics, TRAI, New Delhi (2007-2010).
