NEW DELHI: In the biggest such reshuffle in economic ministries in several years, government Friday appointed four new secretaries in the finance ministry - expenditure, economic affairs, revenue and public enterprises - while naming new heads for commerce, labour and civil aviation. In all, 18 new secretaries were named across departments.
Aviation secretary V Vualnam is expenditure secretary, replacing Manoj Govil, who moves as secretary (coordination) in cabinet secretariat. PMO's Arvind Srivastava will head revenue.
Anuradha Thakur will take charge of department of economic affairs once finance secretary Ajay Seth retires at the end of May. K Moses Chalai, currently in Inter State Council, is the new public enterprises secretary. Rajesh Agrawal, additional secretary in commerce department and India’s chief negotiator for the pro- posed trade deal with the US, has been designated commerce secretary and will take over once Sunil Barthwal retires at the end of Sept. The appointment is meant to signal continuity at a time when the global economy has been pushed into turmoil by US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements. Agrawal, also from the 1994 batch, has been dealing with crucial negotiations including those with Asean, and farm trade.
It is virtually unprecedented to name new secretaries for the three core departments in the finance ministry, revenue, expenditure and DEA, on the same day. In recent months, the finance ministry has seen several changes in the top deck, but the latest round appears to put a team in place to work with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman . Thakur and Srivastava have over five years of service, while Vualnam has more than three years to go.
Vualnam from the 1992 batch has had stints in DEA, including as additional secretary, while Srivastava was handling economic issues in PMO after heading the budget division in the finance ministry. Even in Karnataka, he handled the budget for years and had a short stint in the Asian Development Bank. Anurad- ha Thakur, will move to DEA after be- ing additional secretary in the cor- porate affairs ministry. During her stint in DIPAM, the Himachal cadre officer, had done the groundwork for Air India privatisation.
Samir Sinha, a 1994 batch officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was named aviation secretary, while San- tosh Kumar Sarangi, from Odisha, who is currently the director general for foreign trade, has been appointed new and renewable energy secretary. Vandana Gurnani, a 1991-batch of- ficer from Karnataka, will move from cabinet secretariat to the labour ministry, and Rajit Punhani from Bi- har will be skill development secreta- ry. Madhya Pradesh cadre officers from 1994 batch were also appointed secretary Vivek Agrawal (culture), Pallavi Jain Govil (youth affairs) and Hari Ranjan Rao (sports).
Nidhi Chhibber from Chhattisgarh has been appointed OSD in food processing industries ministry and will take over as secretary in May.
Aviation secretary V Vualnam is expenditure secretary, replacing Manoj Govil, who moves as secretary (coordination) in cabinet secretariat. PMO's Arvind Srivastava will head revenue.
Anuradha Thakur will take charge of department of economic affairs once finance secretary Ajay Seth retires at the end of May. K Moses Chalai, currently in Inter State Council, is the new public enterprises secretary. Rajesh Agrawal, additional secretary in commerce department and India’s chief negotiator for the pro- posed trade deal with the US, has been designated commerce secretary and will take over once Sunil Barthwal retires at the end of Sept. The appointment is meant to signal continuity at a time when the global economy has been pushed into turmoil by US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements. Agrawal, also from the 1994 batch, has been dealing with crucial negotiations including those with Asean, and farm trade.
It is virtually unprecedented to name new secretaries for the three core departments in the finance ministry, revenue, expenditure and DEA, on the same day. In recent months, the finance ministry has seen several changes in the top deck, but the latest round appears to put a team in place to work with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman . Thakur and Srivastava have over five years of service, while Vualnam has more than three years to go.
Vualnam from the 1992 batch has had stints in DEA, including as additional secretary, while Srivastava was handling economic issues in PMO after heading the budget division in the finance ministry. Even in Karnataka, he handled the budget for years and had a short stint in the Asian Development Bank. Anurad- ha Thakur, will move to DEA after be- ing additional secretary in the cor- porate affairs ministry. During her stint in DIPAM, the Himachal cadre officer, had done the groundwork for Air India privatisation.
Samir Sinha, a 1994 batch officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was named aviation secretary, while San- tosh Kumar Sarangi, from Odisha, who is currently the director general for foreign trade, has been appointed new and renewable energy secretary. Vandana Gurnani, a 1991-batch of- ficer from Karnataka, will move from cabinet secretariat to the labour ministry, and Rajit Punhani from Bi- har will be skill development secreta- ry. Madhya Pradesh cadre officers from 1994 batch were also appointed secretary Vivek Agrawal (culture), Pallavi Jain Govil (youth affairs) and Hari Ranjan Rao (sports).
Nidhi Chhibber from Chhattisgarh has been appointed OSD in food processing industries ministry and will take over as secretary in May.
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