Less than a month before the Union Budget, the government on Wednesday appointed its senior-most secretary, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, who had taken charge as revenue secretary about 14 days ago, as the head of the Revenue Department in place of Arunish Chawla.
Pandey has been replaced by Chawla as the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM). “Until a regular incumbent is appointed or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” a government order stated, citing the Appointments Committee of the Center (ACC) decisions. “Shri Arunish Chawla, IAS (BH:92), will also hold additional charge of the post of secretary, department of public enterprises, ministry of finance, and secretary, ministry of culture.”
“Shri Tuhin Kanta Pandey, IAS (OR:87), will continue to be designated as Finance Secretary [FS],” the order issued on Wednesday night said.
The position of finance secretary is assigned to the seniormost secretary in the Ministry of Finance. Since August 28, 2016, Pandey has been actively involved with the finance ministry in the capacities of principal secretary and additional secretary. He has played a key role in the change in the government’s disinvestment plan since taking over as DIPAM secretary on October 22, 2019. Instead, the government focused on wealth creation by public sector firms, including dividends and earnings, and stopped providing a particular amount for disinvestment from the revised forecasts of FY24.
In an interview with Media after the interim budget in February 2024, Pandey said, “We are now focusing on value creation so that values of public assets and enterprises are optimized.” Some of the values could be disposed of through monetization; others could be incomes in terms of dividends. Even disposal should be linked with the right value of the asset. For example, if the market is depressed, certainly it is unwise to sell. But, if the market is rising, then you also have to judge what is the right time to get the maximum value. You have to take this call. Similarly, on dividends, we have to ensure that companies keep enough profits for capital expenditure and expansion. Hence, the government would take a part of their net profit as a dividend. This is the concept of integrated wealth management.”
A government official said, “Dr. Arunish Chawla is a bright officer and has a long career, but the forthcoming budget needed a more experienced person to handle the crucial revenue-related matters.” After the ACC, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accepted the nomination of Sanjay Malhotra, who was then the revenue secretary, as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a three-year term beginning on December 11, 2024, Chawla was assigned to the position. “His sudden elevation at the time of the budget had created a void, which needed experience,” the official said.
Since November 1, 2023, Chawla, a 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Bihar cadre, has been the secretary in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers’ Department of Pharmaceuticals. Chawla held the positions of Managing Director of the Metro Rail Project Patna, Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund, Minister (Economic) at the Embassy of India in Washington, DC, and Joint Secretary in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, prior to her current position as Secretary in the Department of Pharmaceuticals. Additionally, he completed his doctoral and master’s degrees in economics at the London School of Economics.
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