Suman K Bery to be the new Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog

The Centre announced the resignation of NITI Aayog Vice-Chairperson Rajiv Kumar and appointed economist Suman K Bery for the post. Bery was a former Director General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) from 2001 to 2011.

Prior to NCAER, Bery was with the World Bank in Washington DC and his areas included macroeconomy, financial markets and public debt management with a focus on Latin America. He also served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, the Reserve Bank of India’s Technical Advisory Committee and the National Statistical Commission.

Rajiv Kumar took over in August 2017, replacing Arvind Panagariya. While Bery will join the organisation with immediate effect, he will assume the role of Vice-Chairperson from May 1.

Kumar served as the Chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow. He earlier served on the central boards of State Bank of India for two terms and on the central board of the RBI.

He was also the Chief Economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) during 2004-2006; Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) during 2011-2013; Director and Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER); and held positions with the Asian Development Bank, Finance and Industries ministries.