Manmohan Singh’s old hand Rahul Khullar could become India’s finance secretary

Rahul Khullar, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS who worked closely with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in 1991-93, may become India’s next finance secretary after incumbent Ashok Chawla retires on January 31. Khullar who is currently the commerce secretary of the country, is a doctorate in economics and is also armed with a degree in economics from Boston University.

One of the few senior Delhiite IAS officers now, Khullar managed to get strategic ministries during his 35 years career in bureaucracy. Khullar, who is turning 58 in April next, had worked with Delhi chief minister’s office in 1979-81, and had a long innings in PMO as deputy secretary and then director (1985 to 1990), largely coinciding with Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as PM.

Between 1991 and 1993, Khullar was the private secretary to then finance minister Manmohan Singh before taking up an economist’s post in Manila-based Asian Development Bank. During the NDA regime, he took up various assignments in Delhi government, and then in May 2004, joined the Union commerce ministry as a joint secretary. For the last six and half years, Khullar remained in the commerce ministry expect a 5-month period in 2009 when he became disinvestment secretary.

Significantly, if Khullar is made the finance secretary on January 31, 2011, he will take charge when the Finmin would be readying to present the general budget in the last week of February. Even last year, another 1975 batch IAS, Sunil Mitra, was appointed as the revenue secretary in place of PV Bhide amid the high-voltage of Budget preparation.

Khullar’s high profile batch-mates include telecom secretary Rentala Chandrasekhar, urban development secretary Navin Kumar, animal husbandry secretary Rudhra Gangadharan, food processing secretary Ashok Sinha, school education secretary Anshu Vaish, department of Public Enterprises secretary Bhaskar Chatterjee, textile secretary Rita Menon, revenue secretary Sunil Mitra, and the last but not the least his wife Sindhushree Khullar, the country’s sports secretary.