Disinvestment secretary Sunil Mitra will be the new revenue secretary in place of PV Bhide, who retires on January 31. Sumit Bose, secretary of th e13th Finance Commission, will take over as the disinvestment secretary. These names were cleared by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.
With these appointments, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will have a complete team ahead of the Budget 2010-11 on February 26. Apart from Mitra and Bose, economic affairs secretary Ashok Chawla, financial services secretary R Gopalan and expenditure secretary Sushma Nath are other key officials behind the Budget-making exercise.
A 1975 batch IAS officer from West Bengal, Mitra will join in at a time when the government is unveiling major reforms on the direct and indirect tax front with the proposed rollout of the Direct Taxes Code and the Goods & Services Tax, respectively.
New disinvestment secretary Bose, a 1976 batch IAS officer from Madhya Pradesh, will spearhead the ambitious stake sales programme. The government plans to complete public offers of four companies-NTPC, NMDC, Rural Electrification Corporation and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd-by March 2010.
The government hopes to generate Rs 24,000 crore through stake sales in 2009-10. Bose worked with the 13th Finance Commission, which recently submitted its report to President Pratibha Patil, for two years.
The ACC also cleared the appointment of BK Sinha, a 1975 batch IAS officer from Bihar, as a new rural development secretary and Mathew C Kunnamkal, a 1976 batch IAS officer from Kerala, as director general of National Institute of Rural Development in the rank of secretary.
The disinvestment department will unveil in March plans to sell stakes in 60 unlisted and 8 listed companies, including probable offerings by Steel Authority of India Ltd, Coal India Ltd and BSNL, Mitra said.