When she is not immersed in work — which is a rarity for the 55-year-old Indian Administrative Service officer — Anuradha Thakur loves reading books on finance and public policy. Both the qualities will stand her in good stead when she begins her journey on June 30 as the secretary of the high-profile department of economic affairs.

Thakur will be the first woman to occupy the seat when incumbent Ajay Seth superannuates. Till then, she will be an Officer on Special Duty in the DEA. The post of DEA secretary, one that was held by stalwarts like former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia among others, has been a central one in India’s economic policy arena.

Macro-economic management and budget making are among the multiple roles assigned to the department. The DEA is principal anchor of the economic departments spread over multiple ministries; it also virtually presides over the administrative aspects of regulators like the Reserve Bank of India and Securities and Exchange Board of India, bodies that enjoy a great degree of autonomy.

Thakur, who her colleagues describe as an officer of composed demeanour, is currently additional secretary at the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA). The Bihar-born officer is a postgraduate in psychology and has done a certificate course on development economics from the London School of Economics.

People who worked with her acknowledge her “thorough” approach to decision-making and hard-working nature. She is known for humility, but had displayed remarkable skills in getting things done. This has been in evidence during her stint at the department of investment and public asset management (Dipam) and in the current role in MCA.

Since she joined MCA on July 1, 2022, she has been in charge of enforcement or 3Is (inquiry, inspection and investigation). This is a key responsibility amid rising corporate crimes and frauds. She was also holding the charge of director of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Companies Act.

Between FY20 and FY24, during most of part of which she was leading the enforcement, 72 cases were referred to SFIO for investigation. Further 69 complaints were filed out of which 43 were related to corporate fraud. In this period, fine was imposed in 114 cases, 20 were compounded, and in 9 cases fine and imprisonment were ordered.

“She paid special attention to manpower in SFIO, which was suffering due to low staff strength compared to the sanctioned limit. She has managed to get the vacancies filled, which helped in faster inquiry completion and reduction in pendency,” says a source privy to Thakur’s stint at MCA.

Even while policing the corporate world, she was spearheading the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme (PMIS), which was launched on October 3, 2024. As India seeks to reap its rich demographic dividend, the scheme aims to provide one crore young Indians with 12-month paid internships in the nation’s top companies over the next five years. This is in tune with the policy intent to bridge the gap between academic learning and industry demands.

This is her homecoming to the finance ministry after a gap of nearly five years. During her tenure as joint secretary at Dipam, she was spearheading the disinvestment of ailing Air India, She was also involved in the calibrated disinvestment of government assets in ITC, Axis Bank and L&T held through the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (Suuti).

Under Thakur’s direct watch, the government had invited expression of interest on January 27, 2020 strategic disinvestment of Air India by way of management control and sale of 100% stake which will included AI’s 100% stake in Air India Express and 50% in Air India SATS Airport Services. AI, which has been bleeding ever since its amalgamation with Indian Airlines in 2007, finally went to the Tata group in January 2022. The sale resulted in huge savings to the exchequer, given that the ailing airline used to make around Rs 8,000 crore as annual losses.

Another innovative product she spearheaded in Dipam was the BHARAT Bond Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), which mobilised Rs 12,400 crore for central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) in its maiden issue in December 2019. This debt ETF helped the CPSEs over the years to mobilise low cost funds.

Before asset monetisation was formally launched in FY22, she played a key role in the floating of the concept paper on asset monetisation during her stint in Dipam.

Thakur also helped strengthen many institutions including the Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS) Academy. Among other key roles in the Centre, she was joint secretary and then additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat in charge of personnel and general administration from May 12, 2020 till June 30, 2022.

During a challenging time when a global trade war is taking shape, potentially destabilising the world economy, which could also hurt the Indian economy, Thakur’s steering of the economic affairs department would be keenly watched.