Took VRS as govt’s reform agenda ‘was slipping away after general elections’: Subhash Garg

Ex-Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg says relationship with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman became ‘unproductive’.

Subhash Chandra Garg, former financce secretary, Subhash Chandra Garg, Nirmala Sitharaman, Subhash Chandra Garg nirmala sitharaman tranfer, Subhash Chandra Garg finance ministry

Former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg. (File)

Former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg Saturday said he decided to take voluntary retirement from public service as the government’s reform agenda to deliver high growth “was slipping away after the general elections” and he did not share “a productive relationship” with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

In a blog post Saturday, he said he developed “serious differences over key policy matters” with Sitharaman, who asked for and insisted on his transfer from the Ministry of Finance in June 2019, within a month of her taking over as minister.

Unlike former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, “Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman, has a very different personality, knowledge endowment, skill-set and approach for economic policy issues and also for the officers working with her. It became quite apparent very early that working with her was going to be quite difficult and it might not be conducive to undertaking necessary reforms for the attainment of the objective of building a $10 trillion economy of India,” Garg said in his post titled: A new phase of public policy service begins today.

“Serious difference also developed on some key issues like economic capital framework of RBI, package for dealing with problems of non-banks, resolution of non-banks, partial credit guarantee scheme, capitalisation of non-banks like IIFCL and other financial entities and the like. Very soon, not only had our personal relationship soured, but the official working relationship also become quite unproductive,” he said.