Road to World Bank, IMF

The NDA government on Wednesday announced the appointment of Subhash Chandra Garg as Executive Director of the World Bank for three years. He will replace M N Prasad in October. The post, along with a similar one in IMF, is widely considered a plum one for bureaucrats, particularly for those who are nearing retirement. However, there are exceptions. Following are India's representatives to multi-lateral agencies in the past few years. They are also representatives of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and some other countries to these agencies.

WORLD BANK

Dhanendra Kumar (2005-09)
An IAS officer of 1968 batch of Haryana Cadre, Kumar was the secretay, defence production, just prior to his move to the World Bank. Earlier, he had also served as secretary, road transport and Highways and secretary, ministry of culture at the Centre. As the additional telecom secretary, he was closely associated with the telecom revolution in India by opening up
the sector for competition during 1998-2002.

Pulok Chatterjee (2009-11)
An IAS officer of 1974 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre, Chatterjee was joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office prior to joining the World Bank. Sanjaya Baru, then media advisor to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , said in his book - The Accidental Prime Minister - that Chatterjee was somewhat a 10 Janpath mole at 7 Race Course Road and in South Block. After his return from the World Bank, he was appointed Principal Secretary to the PM (Singh).

M N Prasad (2011-14)
An IAS officer of 1972 batch of Bihar cadre, Prasad had served as secretary to then PM Manmohan Singh. A low profile bureaucrat, he was a former student of Manmohan Singh in Delhi School of Economics. He was due to retire in 2010.

Subhash Chandra Garg (2014-To take over in October)
An IAS officer of 1983 batch of Rajasthan cadre, Garg is currently serving in his cadre state. He was handpicked by new Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as principal secreatry (finance). He is considered one of the most important figures in the current bureaucratic set-up in the state. He was one of the key men behind the re-launch of Bhamashah Scheme. During Raje's first tenure as CM, Garg served as finance secretary for three years. He was later shifted to the Centre when Ashok Gehlot came to power in Rajasthan in 2008.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Adarsh Kishore (2006-09)
An IAS officer of 1969 batch of Rajasthan cadre, Kishore served as the finance secretary before joining IMF. He was also the expenditure secretary when the Sixth Pay Commission for central government employees was set up. He vied for the Cabinet secretary's post, but was moved to IMF and B K Chaturvedi was given a one-year extension as the Cabinet secretary.

Arvind Virmani ( 2009-12)
Unlike the usual practice, Virmani did not come from bureaucracy. Before moving to IMF, he was the chief economic advisor in the finance ministry. In that capacity, he headed a team which authored Economic Survey of 2008-09. The Survey suggested far-reaching reforms like abolishing transaction tax, cesses and surcharges. Most of these are yet to be implemented. During his tenure in IMF, a power tussle erupted between developed countries and emerging market economies over election of IMF chief.

Rakesh Mohan ( 2012-15)
He carried the legacy of his predecessor in the sense that he does not come from bureaucracy. However, he served in different capacities in the finance ministry, including that of the chief economic advisor (2001-02), economic affairs secretary (2004-05). The important position he held before moving to IMF was the deputy governor of RBI, though his term expired much before he was moved to IMF. Together with his assignment in IMF, he headed a committee on transport. The committee released its report earlier this year.