In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Centre appointed Anup Wadhawan as the next secretary of commerce ministry. The move comes at a time when the government is pushing hard to improve India's global trade relations and trade diplomacy.
The current secretary of commerce ministry, Rita Teotia, is set to retire by July-end. She had assisted commerce minister Suresh Prabhu during his recent visits to Africa, Paris and in the WTO negotiations.
Anup Wadhawan, who holds a doctorate in Economics, has now been appointed as Officer on Special Duty in the commerce ministry.
Anup Wadhawan, a 1985 batch officer from Uttarakhand, had worked as an additional secretary in the department of financial services, in the finance ministry.
Between 2013-15, Wadhawan officiated as a government nominee on the board of Bank of India and Hindustan Diamond Corporation Pvt Ltd – a joint venture between GoI and De Beers – which was later closed down in 2015.
Wadhawan had also officiated as the chairman of pension regulator Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). He had a very illustrious stint as the Director General of Foreign Trade.
Presently, as special secretary in the commerce ministry, Wadhawan has been heading the Trade Policy Division, which deals with a number of multilateral organisations like WTO, UNCTAD and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations.
His elaborate responsibilities at the commerce ministry include overview of services export – which is a part of India's Export Policy, implementation of India's Foreign Trade Policy statement (2015-2020), foreign trade with Australia and New Zealand.
According to the government order released last week, Wadhawan would be now posted as an Officer on Special Duty in the Department of Commerce and will take over as secretary, department of commerce on superannuation of present commerce secretary Rita Teotia on July 31.
Rita Teotia, who is known for her straight talking, was also at the forefront of India's trade negotiations with the US following sanctions on India's export subsidy measures recently.
Teotia took charge as the commerce secretary in August 2015 from the department of telecommunications, trumping her fellow Gujarat cadre IAS officer Vijaya Laxmi Joshi, who was the top contender for the commerce secretary post.
According to sources, Teotia was preferred by Modi over Joshi, as the latter was considered to have bestowed favours on a business group with interest in energy, while she held powerful positions in Gujarat's state-owned PSUs.
Udyog Bhavan officials said that Teotia had relegated many of the important trade negotiation duties to Anup Wadhawan a few months back itself. "We were very sure that Dr Wadhawan would be made the commerce secretary soon," said a commerce ministry official.
With Wadhawan at the helm, India would look to sail through the choppy waters of multilateralism and globalisation, on the very able shoulders of this seasoned commerce ministry official.