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The post of India's chief economic adviser (CEA), which has been vacant since the exit of Arvind Subramanian in August, may be filled by a woman for the first time ever, The Economic Times reported.
The government is looking for candidates for the advisory post, with only six months to go for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 5-year term to end.
One candidate is Poonam Gupta, lead economist for India at the World Bank, sources told the paper.
Gupta was the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chair professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).
The current government's ongoing term may be coming to an end, but it wants to appoint a CEA to help weather global crises, the news daily reported.
Other names under consideration are Sajjid Chinoy, chief India economist at JPMorgan and Krishnamurthy Subramanian, a professor at the Indian School of Business.
If appointed, Gupta will be the third consecutive CEA with World Bank and IMF experience, after Raghuram Rajan and Arvind Subramanian.
Subramanian had stepped down from his post in August, citing personal reasons. His term had ended in June 2017, but he was given a year-long extension.
After he left, former RBI governor Bimal Jalan led a search committee to look for his successor.
While Gupta would be the first woman CEA of India, Ila Patnaik was the principal economic adviser to the government from May 2014 to December 2015.
This was when Rajan had moved on to the role of RBI governor and the incoming Modi government hadn't appointed anyone for the role.
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