Despite criticism from various quarters and a comment from the Andhra Pradesh high court over the appointment of a host of advisors to the state government, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy chose to appoint yet another advisor.
Rajnish Kumar, the former chairman of State Bank of India, the largest public sector bank in the country, has been appointed as economic advisor to the government, to help it bring more private investments to the state. An order to this effect was issued by chief secretary Adityanath Das on Sunday.
Rajnish Kumar, who has also been an exclusive advisor to Kotak's Special Situation Fund and as an independent non-executive director at HSBC, accepted the offer.
He said as a financial expert, he would help Andhra Pradesh government in attracting investments into the state.
Rajnish, who is also expected to operate from Delhi or Mumbai, would coordinate with state finance minister Buggana Rajendranath for a period of two years from the date of assuming office.
He is expected to interact with various corporates to park their investments in Andhra Pradesh, besides interacting with foreign companies to attract foreign direct investments to the state.
The appointment of Rajnish as an economic advisor to the state government raised an eyebrow in industrial circles, because he is completely new to Andhra affairs and has no acquaintance with the industrial sector in the state.
There is a talk that he was recommended by Rajya Sabha member Parimal Nathwani, group president of corporate affairs and projects in Reliance Industries headed by Mukesh Ambani.
It may be recalled that Nathwani got elected to Rajya Sabha last year on behalf of YSR Congress party.
The Jagan government already has another financial advisor, former Union finance secretary Subhash Garg, to help the state in additional financial mobilisation.
He is operating from Delhi, but there are no evidences of Garg helping the state in additional financial resources despite severe financial crunch being faced by the state.
