In a major development that is bound to create ripples, Union Finance Secretary Mr. T V Somanathan replaced Mr. Rajiv Gauba as the Cabinet Secretary of India. Somanathan will have a tenure of two years, starting August 30th. He will discharge the duty of Officer on Special Duty in the Cabinet Secretariat from the date he joins the assignment till he takes over as the Cabinet Secretary.
Mr. Somanathan is a 1987-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, who earlier served as Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) besides being the Secretary in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). He was also posted as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (2010-11) and has a gamut of experience in serving the Indian bureaucracy in several positions.
The IAS officer holds a doctorate in Economics and is a qualified chartered accountant (CA), cost accountant, and company secretary. He has published over 80 papers and articles on economics in journals and newspapers, finance and public policy, and is the author of two books as well as chapters in several others. He has also worked as Director at the World Bank, Washington D.C on deputation from the IAS.
He is currently also the chairman of the committee reviewing the pension system for government employees. Somanathan was responsible for spearheading several policies when the centre’s revenues were hit due to the pandemic, especially during 2020 and 2021, including enforcing expenditure curbs on various ministries and departments across the central government.
He is also considered to have played a key role in implementing flagship schemes such as ‘PM Gareeb Kalyan’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, which were announced during the first wave of COVID-19.
EXCELLED AS FINANCE SECRETARY
He was appointed Expenditure Secretary in December 2019, and being the senior most IAS officer in the Finance Ministry, became the Finance Secretary in April 2021.
Unlike many countries in the West, which turned the fiscal tap on with huge cash handouts during the Covid-19 pandemic, Somanathan loosened the purse strings only for the most needed. His fiscal prudence ensured the government could spend on public expenditure, which has helped India keep its growth momentum at 7 per cent plus for the last three years.
Somanathan has quietly pushed policy changes that ensured elimination of hidden subsidies and efficiency in expenditure management that helped restore credibility in budget estimates. He cleaned up the government’s finances. He has also designed a number of PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) schemes and also had a major role to play in the PM Garib Kalyan and Atmanirbhar Bharat announcements in 2020.
He also played a major role in the 2022 Union budget, which ended the practice of borrowing money outside the budget. This was an effort to make the balance sheets of the central government more transparent.
KARUNANIDHI’S RIGHT HAND
He earlier occupied senior positions in the Government of Tamil Nadu state, including Deputy Secretary (Budget), Joint Vigilance Commissioner, Executive Director Metro water, Secretary to Chief Minister, and Additional Chief Secretary & Commissioner of Commercial Taxes.
Somanathan has worked closely with M Karunanidhi for three years from 2007 to 2019, when the latter was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He had a ring side view of how the veteran DMK leader pushed through politically some tough economic reforms such as increasing power tariff.
During his stint as the founder MD of Chennai Metro Rail Project (CMRL), he was responsible for achieving financial closure and awarding the initial tenders for implementing the Rs.14,600 crore CMRL.
WORLD BANK STINT
Apart from serving in crucial designation under the government of India, Mr Somanathan made his name in the international spheres through his involvement in the World Bank. In 1996 he joined the World Bank (in Washington) through the Young Professionals Program, as Financial Economist in the East Asia & Pacific Regional Vice Presidency.
Four years down the line he became one of the Bank’s youngest Sector Managers when he was appointed Manager of the Budget Policy Group. In 2011 his services were sought by the World Bank, and he served as Director from 2011 to 2015.
GAUBA’S RECORD
The coveted post of “Cabinet Secretary” is given to the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of India — ranking eleventh in the Indian order of precedence! The outgoing Cabinet Secretary Mr. Gauba (1982-batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer) took over the post five years ago on August 30, 2019 and has been the longest serving Cabinet Secretary of India.
PANDEY NEXT FINANCE SECRETARY?
Following today’s developments senior IAS officer Tuhin Kanta Pandey could be the next finance secretary. Usually, the senior-most bureaucrat in the finance ministry becomes the finance secretary.
As the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam), Pandey is responsible for finalising the targets for disinvestment and resource mobilisation through dividends of public sector enterprises.
A 1987-batch civil servant from the Odisha cadre, Pandey is credited with concluding the long-pending sale of the national carrier Air India and was also instrumental in the public debut of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
