Faces behind the 14th Finance Commission

A look at the members of the 14th Finance Commission

Y V Reddy
Chairman

The chairman of the 14th Finance Commission, Dr Yaga Venugopal Reddy (Y V Reddy) is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1964 batch. He is best known for his tenure as the 21st governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which he held from September 2003 to September 2008. He is credited with saving the banking system with advanced action to alleviate the impact of the subprime and liquidity crisis of 2008 by imposing tough lending standards. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, in 2010. He also worked as the executive director of International Monterey Fund in 2002. He was also on the advisory group of eminent persons to advise the finance minister of India on G-20 issues. Reddy’s educational achievements include being a honorary fellow of the London School of Economics and a PhD in economics from Osmania University, Hyderabad.

M Govinda Rao
Member

He is a former director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. Besides being a member of the economic advisory council to the prime minister, he has served on several advisory panels such as member, expert committee on multilevel planning, Planning Commission. Rao’s research interests include public finance and fiscal policy, fiscal federalism, and state and local finance. He has been a consultant to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme.

Sushma Nath
Member

She was the first woman to hold the post of finance secretary, in 2011. Nath was an MP cadre IAS officer of the 1974 batch. She also served as the expenditure secretary since 2008. Nath was a member of the Sixth Central Pay Commission, set up on October5, 2006 and headed by B N Srikrishna. She succeeded Ashok Chawla as finance secretary on January 31, 2011. She was considered an efficient officer and is a stickler for rules .
 

Abhijit Sen
Part-time member

He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Cambridge and is on deputation at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has been involved with a number of official policy making bodies over the years. He served as chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices from 1997 to 2000. He was a member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on WTO in 2000-01. He was a member of the erstwhile Planning Commission. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, in 2010 for distinguished service in public affairs.

 

Sudipto Mundle
Member

Prior to joining the Finance Commission, he was acting chairman of the National Statistical Commission, Government of India and a member of the monetary policy advisory committee of the Reserve Bank of India. Mundle spent the major part of his career in various capacities in the Asian Development Bank, from where he retired in 2008. He was also on secondment as economic advisor to the minister of finance from 1986 to 88.

Ajay Narayan Jha
Member-Secretary

The secretary of the Commission, he is a Bihar cadre officer of the 1982 batch. Currently, he is a joint secretary & financial advisor in the ministry of human resource development. He has a Masters in history and executive development.