Tuhin Kanta Pandey becomes revenue secretary ahead of Union Budget 2025, fourth change in a month
- Tuhin Kanta Pandey was appointed as Revenue Secretary, a role he will hold alongside Finance Secretary. This decision comes amid several recent changes in leadership within the Revenue Department.
Just weeks ahead of the Budget 2025, Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Janaury 8 appointed Tuhin Kanta Pandey as the Revenue Secretary, Ministry of Finance. This surpise change came almost fortnight after IAS Arunish Chawla was appointed on December 25 as Revenue Secretary.
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Arunish Chawla had replaced Ajay Seth, who was temporarily appointed as the Secretary of Revenue on December 10 due to Sanjay Malhotra’s appointment as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Sheth who is the secretary of the department of economic affairs was given additional charge as revenue secretary.
Notably, Malhotra too was previously the Revenue Secretary before becoming the RBI Governor, resulting in a change of four revenue secretaries within a month's time.
Who is Tuhin Kanta Pandey?
The Finance Ministry has said that Pandey will remain as the Finance Secretary along with the new role of Revenue Secretary.
Pandey is a 1987-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Odisha cadre. In the state, he served as administrative head in the Departments of Health, General Administration, Commercial Taxes, Transport and Finance. He also served as Executive Director of Odisha State Finance Corporation and Managing Director of Odisha Small Industries Corporation.
Before serving as Secretary in the DIPAM, Pandey also held many significant positions in the Union Government and State Government of Odisha, in addition to serving a stint in the Regional Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
In the Union government, his previous positions include Joint Secretary, Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog), Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat and Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce.
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Why was Tuhin Kanta Pandey appointed as Revenue secretary?
Report by Business Today states that Pandey was appointed Secretary of DIPAM in 2019 has extensive experience in the finance ministry, making him well-acquainted with the Budget 2025 making process. Pandey also hold the role of Finance Secretary since September 2024 where he is responsible for coordinating activities across the departments of economic affairs, revenue, financial services, expenditure, and DIPAM.
Sources told BT that due to the complexity of tax proposals, it was thought that someone with experience in this area would be better for the role of Revenue Secretary before the Budget. Notably, the Revenue Department hold crucial position inclusidng direct and indirect tax policy measures and is also in charge of tax revenue collection for the Centre.
The report also mentioned that Arunish Chawla holds positions as Secretary in multiple departments, including DIPAM, DPE, and the Ministry of Culture, which could have made managing these roles a challenging task.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Business NewsEconomyTuhin Kanta Pandey becomes revenue secretary ahead of Union Budget 2025, fourth change in a month
First Published:14 Jan 2025, 03:32 PM IST
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