Arvind Subramanian calls Arun Jaitley ‘a dream boss’: Here are the main highlights from the outgoing CEA’s statement

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In a two-page statement issued on Wednesday, chief economic advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian, shared his thoughts and observations on what he calls an “extraordinary opportunity” to serve the country.

Earlier today, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced Subramanian’s wish to move back to the US because of family commitments.

Subramanian, who was appointed as CEA to the Arun Jaitley-headed finance ministry on 16^th October 2014 for a three-year term, maintained that the role of the CEA is “a unique position,” and thanked the Finance Minister for his support, in fact, even calling him a “dream boss.”

Here are the main excerpts from his statement:

• Subramanian said that he and his team was able to “diagnose early the twin balance sheet challenge, and advocate the macro-economic strategy of a public investment push, beginning with the Union Budget of 2015-16.”
• Helped forge the consensus that led to the Constitutional amendment on the GST in the fall of 2016 through the report on the Revenue Neutral Rate, the statement said.
• Subramanian says he and his team helped conceptualized the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile trinity.
• The outgoing CEA also said that he and his team initiated the fiscal and monetary olicy debates of the last few years along with providing frequent macro-economic analysis to the government and the Financial Stability and Development Council. Some of these debates contributed to policy reform in important sectors such as clothing, fertilizer, kerosene, power, and pulses
• Subramanian also said in his statement that he and his team has elevated the quality of economic analysis, advice, and articulation, especially in the five Economic Surveys, which according to him, are “widely read in India and across the world, and are now part of the syllabus in several universities and colleges.” In his stint as the CEA, Subramanian says he has pushed “new ideas such as: subsidies for the well-off, universal basic income, “bad bank,” climate change and the case for clean coal (“carbon imperialism”), “stigmatized capitalism,” “from socialism without entry to capitalism without exit,” the 4C Problem that has paralyzed decision-making…”
• In terms of building institutional capacity, Subramanian laid emphasis on mentoring young IES officers, building strong teams, better outreach efforts and leveraging the online platforms to disseminate the government’s economic policies.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow