Minister for Finance, Dr Haseeb Drabu has been appointed Chairman of the Empowered Committee of the Finance Ministers of the North Zone.According to a communiqué issued by the Inter-State Council Secretariat here, Dr Drabu will be heading the Empowered Committee of the Finance Ministers of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir.A professional economist with a doctorate in Economics, Dr Drabu is credited with initiating radical reforms to bring systemic changes in the fiscal management of J&K.Before joining politics, Dr Drabu has been involved with national economic policy making in India for seven years at the highest level, including in the Planning Commission, Finance Commission and the Economic Advisory Council of the Prime Minister.He has worked as the Economic Advisor to the Government of J&K for seven years. He also headed J&K Bank as Chairman and Chief executive for five years.Dr Drabu has been advising a clutch of top Indian corporates on the macroeconomic situation, emerging businesses and risk management. He has expertise in macro and monetary policy, banking and finance operations, fund management, corporate advisory and business journalism.
Besides serving as national editor of Business Standard, Dr Drabu has been a regular commentator on economic issues and used to write a fortnightly column for Wall Street Journal partner in India, the business daily, Mint.In his professional capacity, Dr Drabu has been also associated High Powered Committee on Economic Reforms for Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Task Force on the Long-term Development of J&K, Member, Planning Commission’s Working Group on Resources other than Tax Resources for the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, Consultant, Asian Development Bank on reforms and reconstruction in J&K, Member, National Banking Panel of Confederation of Indian Industry, Member, Management Committee, Indian Bank’s Association, Member, Advisory Committee of National Disaster Management Authority, Member, Commission on Centre-State Relations, Member of the Expert Group on ‘Promotion of Diversity in living, education and workspaces for the minorities’ formed by Government of India, Chairman, Committee on Power Tariff Structure for Industry in J&K, Chairman, Committee on Cross Border Trade in J&K, Chairman, Committee on Employment Generation in J&K, Chairman, Committee for Restructuring of J&K State PSUs, Chairman, Committee for Tax Reforms, Chairman, Committee for formulation of domestic and International Trade Policy, Member, Task Force for preparing an IT Vision Document for J&K, Member, Taskforce on Unique Identification Project of J&K.