New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday approved the appointment of economist Surjit S. Bhalla as Executive Director (India) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a period of three years.
An official order from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Tuesday evening confirmed the same.
In November 2015, the Centre had appointed well-known economist and former RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn to represent India on the IMF’s executive board, which is responsible for managing the day to day business of the multilateral financial institution.
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Gokarn, who passed away earlier this year, replaced former RBI deputy governor Rakesh Mohan who also served a three-year term.
The IMF executive board is generally composed of 24 directors who are appointed or elected sometimes by member countries or a group of countries. It meets several times a week or month and carries out its functions based on work done by the IMF’s staff.
Bhalla, a well-known economist, was a part-time member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council until December 2018.
He resigned from the council on December 1, 2018, citing among reasons other work commitments including a consultancy gig with the news channel CNN-IBN.