Odisha Cadre IAS Officer Appointed Union Finance Secretary

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Senior IAS officer of Odisha cadre Tuhin Kanta Pandey was on Saturday appointed as the new Union Finance Secretary .

The 1987-batch officer is currently serving as  the secretary of Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), Ministry of Finance.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved designating Pandey as the Finance Secretary, said an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training.

Pandey succeeds T V Somanathan, who was appointed as the Cabinet Secretary in August, succeeding Rajiv Gauba.

Going by convention, the senior-most secretary in the Union Finance Ministry is designated as the Finance Secretary.

Pandey, who has done his Master in Arts in Economics from Punjab University, Chandigarh, and MBA from UK, has worked in various capacities in Odisha government and the Union government of India. In Odisha, he worked as Executive Director of Odisha State Finance Corporation (OSFC); Managing Director of Odisha Small Industries Corporation (OSIC); Collector of Sambalpur district, special secretary, General Administration department, Transport Commissioner, as well as Health Secretary and as Commissioner, Commercial Taxes. In 2009, Pandey was appointed as Joint Secretary, Planning Commission for five years and subsequently, appointed as Joint Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat for a period of two years. He had served as Principal Secretary, Finance, in Odisha before proceeding on central deputation.