ICRIER chief Rajiv Kumar joins FICCI as Director General

Former Director, ICRIER, Rajiv Kumar who joined FICCI as Director General on Wednesday. The post in the industry body was created for Kumar.

Economist and Director of ICRIER Rajiv Kumar has been appointed as the Director General of the industry chamber FICCI.

Mr Kumar will “assist” Secretary General Amit Mitra, the chamber said on Wednesady. The post of DG has been created for Mr Kumar, who was the Director of economic think tank ICRIER.

The Oxford-educated economist will “assist the Secretary General to further strengthen India’s largest and oldest apex business organisation,” FICCI said.

He would “report to Mitra as clear second in command,” a source said.

Before ICRIER, Kumar had a stint with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and was Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance. He was also Chief Economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), a rival chamber of the FICCI.

“We are confident that Kumar’s rich experience and insights will add immense value to FICCI... The strengthening of the top management with a person of his caliber will go a long way in meeting the burgeoning demands on FICCI on matters of policy change, issues of globalisation and the challenge of inclusion with growth,” Mitra said.