New Delhi: US-based economist Arvind Subramanian is poised to be named as chief economic adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s government, two sources at the finance ministry said on Friday.
If confirmed, the appointment would bring in a second economist of international renown to a key policy post following the naming of former International Monetary Fund chief economist Raghuram Rajan as central bank chief last year.
The appointment of Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, was recommended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Cabinet-level approval is expected to follow.
"He is likely to be appointed soon," one of the sources said.
Modi stormed to a general election victory in May with a pledge to lift the economy out of its worst slowdown in a quarter of a century and put to work the one million young people who enter the workforce each month.
The nationalist leader has abolished a Soviet-style Planning Commission, but made an otherwise slow start on economic reforms, disappointing some supporters who had hoped that he would take decisive action to promote a recovery.
(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh and Manoj Kumar; Writing by Douglas Busvine; editing by Malini Menon)
