Ashok Lahiri

Ashok Kumar Lahiri is an Indian economist and a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Balurghat.^[1] He is currently serving as a member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. Lahiri previously served as 12th Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, reader at the Delhi School of Economics, chairman of Bandhan Bank, executive director at the Asian Development Bank and director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and had stints with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as a consultant and senior economist respectively. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Dr. Ashok Lahiri
Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 May 2021
Preceded by	Biswanath Chowdhury
Constituency	Balurghat
Member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission
In office 27 November 2017 (2017-11-27) – 26 November 2023 Serving with Shaktikanta Das (2017–2018) Ramesh Chand Anoop Singh
Appointed by	President of India (then, Ramnath Kovind)
Chairman	N. K. Singh
12th Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India
In office December 2002 (2002-12) – June 2007 (2007-06)
Appointed by	Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee (2002–2004) Manmohan Singh (2004–2007)
Preceded by	Rakesh Mohan
Succeeded by	Arvind Virmani
Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy
In office February 1998 (1998-02) – October 2002 (2002-10)
Appointed by	Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
Personal details
Born	Ashok Kumar Lahiri (1951-08-03) 3 August 1951 (age 72)
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Alma mater	Delhi School of Economics Presidency University, Kolkata
Occupation	Economist, academician

Education

Lahiri is an alumnus of the economics department of the Presidency University, Kolkata.^[2]

Economist

Lahiri has served as Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India,^[3][4] chairman of Bandhan Bank, economic adviser in the Ministry of Finance,^[4] executive director at the Asian Development Bank,^[3][4] director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy,^[3][4] reader at the Delhi School of Economics,^[4] consultant with the World Bank,^[4] and senior economist at the International Monetary Fund.^[4]

Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy

Lahiri served as the director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy for four years between February 1998 and October 2002.^[4]

Chief Economic Adviser

 

Dr. Ashok Lahiri at a Press Conference as the Chief Economic Advisor along with the Union Finance Secretary D. C. Gupta, the Union Revenue Secretary Binita Roy in New Delhi on 20 April 2004

Lahiri was appointed Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India (CEA) by the prime minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet in December 2002,^[4] and demitted the office of CEA in June 2007,^[4] serving in the Ministry of Finance for more than four years. Lahiri served as the CEA under the premiership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.^[5]

Chairman of Bandhan Bank

Lahiri was appointed the non-executive, part-time chairman of the newly-formed Bandhan Bank in July 2015;^[6][7] Lahiri resigned from his position as chairman in April 2018 to serve as a full-time member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission.^[8][9][10]

Member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission

 

Dr. Ashok Lahiri addressing a Press Conference as the acting Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission regarding the Agriculture Conference, in Chandigarh on May 03, 2018.

Lahiri was appointed a part-time member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission in November 2017 by the President of India,^{[11][12][13][14]} Lahiri was elevated to a full-time member in April 2018 and was accorded the status of a minister of stateand served there till 26 November 2023.^[15][16]

Politics

He was declared as a candidate to contest from the Alipurduar constituency in the 2021 West Bengal election^[17] but due to animosity among the local BJP members in Alipurduar, his name was later withdrawn from Alipurduar constituency in the list of candidates.^[18] He was later declared as a candidate for the Balurghat constituency.^[19]

He won against TMC candidate Shekhar Dasgupta by securing 36,143 votes.^[20]

References

1. "Balurghat Election Result 2021 Live Updates: Ashok Kumar Lahiri of BJP Wins". 2 May 2021.
2. "Economics —> Alumni". Presidency University, Kolkata. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
3. . Bandhan Bank. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
4. "Ashok K. Lahiri". Brookings Institution. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
5. Pandey, Kirti (25 March 2021). "Celebrated economist Ashok Lahiri, BJP candidate from Balurghat worked with Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh". Timesnownews.com. from the original on 25 March 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
6. Law, Abhishek (9 July 2015). "Ashok Lahiri to chair Bandhan Bank board; founder unveils logo". Business Line. Kolkata: The Hindu Group. ISSN 0971-7528. OCLC 456162874. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
7. Acharya, Namrata (10 July 2015). "Bandhan appoints former chief economic adviser Ashok Lahiri as chairman". Business Standard. Kolkata: Business Standard Ltd. OCLC 496280002. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
8. Jagannathan, K. T. (9 April 2018). "Ashok Kumar Lahiri quits as part-time chairman of Bandhan Bank". The Hindu. Chennai: N. Ram. ISSN 0971-751X. OCLC 13119119. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
9. Kanungo, Soumonty (9 April 2018). "Ashok Kumar Lahiri quits as non-executive chairman of Bandhan Bank". Livemint. Kolkata: Vivek Khanna. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
10. "Ashok Lahiri steps down as chairman of Bandhan Bank". Business Standard. Business Standard Ltd. 11 April 2018. OCLC 496280002. Retrieved 17 December 2018 – via PressReader.
11. "First Meeting of the Fifteenth Finance Commission, North Block, New Delhi". Finance Commission of India. 4 December 2017. from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
12. Mishra, Asit Ranjan. "15th Finance Commission to hold first meeting today". Livemint. New Delhi: HT Media Ltd. from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
13. "15th Finance Commission holds first meeting". Business Line. 4 December 2017. from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
14. "15th Finance Commission holds first meeting, seeks academic inputs from leading think-tanks - Firstpost". Firstpost. New Delhi. Press Trust of India. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
15. "Ashok Lahiri appointed full-time member of 15th Finance Commission". Business Standard. New Delhi: Business Standard Ltd. Press Trust of India. 3 May 2018. OCLC 496280002. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
16. "Ashok Lahiri full-time member of fin panel". The Tribune. New Delhi. Tribune News Service. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
17. "BJP fields former CEA Ashok Lahiri". Business Line. 14 March 2021. from the original on 14 March 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
18. "Ashok lahiri replaced as BJP candidate". Business Line. 18 March 2021. from the original on 18 March 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
19. Das, Madhuparna (23 March 2021). "Ex-CEA Ashok Lahiri is now BJP's candidate in Balurghat after being dropped from Alipurduar". ThePrint. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
20. "Balurghat, West Bengal Assembly election result 2021".