Hasmukh Adhia

Hasmukh Adhia (born 3 November 1958) is one of the key persons behind the architecture and roll-out of the Goods and Service Tax & Demonetization scheme announced in 2016. He is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1981 Gujarat cadre batch who served as Finance Secretary and Revenue Secretary of India.[2] Adhia previously served in several capacities for the Indian and Gujarat governments, including as Financial Services Secretary. He is the present Non-Executive Chairman of Bank of Baroda.[3] A week after the government nominated him chairman of state-owned Bank of Baroda, he appointed as the Chancellor of Central University of Gujarat.[4]

Hasmukh Adhia
Chancellor of Central University of Gujarat
Assumed office
8 March 2019
Preceded byYoginder K Alagh
Chairman of Bank of Baroda
Assumed office
1 March 2019
Appointed byAppointments Committee of the Cabinet
Finance Secretary of India
In office
1 November 2017 – 30 November 2018
Appointed byAppointments Committee of the Cabinet
MinisterArun Jaitley
Preceded byAshok Lavasa
Succeeded byAjay Narayan Jha
Revenue Secretary of India
In office
1 September 2015 – 30 November 2018
Appointed byAppointments Committee of the Cabinet
MinisterArun Jaitley
Preceded byShaktikanta Das
Succeeded byAjay Bhushan Pandey
Financial Services Secretary of India
In office
3 November 2014 – 31 August 2015
Personal details
Born (1958-11-03) 3 November 1958
Rajkot district, Gujarat[1]
NationalityIndian
Alma materIndian Institute of Management Bangalore
Gujarat University
Swami Vivekanand Yoga University
OccupationRetired IAS officer

Education

Hasmukh Adhia is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in yoga from the Swami Vivekanand Yoga University in Bangalore,[1][5][6] and is a gold medallist in one year post graduate programme in public management and Policy for Government and Non Government Executives (PGP-PMP) from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.[5][1][6] His thesis for PhD was on "Impact of Yoga on Management".[7] He also has Master of Commerce and Bachelor Commerce degrees from Gujarat University.[5][1][6]

Career
Adhia unveiling the plaque to inaugurate the new office of GST Council

Adhia has served in various positions for both the Government of Gujarat and the Government of India, like as Additional chief secretary (Finance), Principal Secretary (Education), Principal Secretary (Transport), Principal Secretary to Chief Minister of Gujarat, executive director of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam, managing director of the Gujarat Industrial Investment Corporation, and as the district magistrate and collector of Bhavnagar and Surat districts in the Gujarat government;[5] and as Union Revenue Secretary and Union Financial Services Secretary, in the Indian government.[5][6][8]

Adhia was also a consultant to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.[5]

Financial Services Secretary

Adhia was appointed as the Union Financial Services Secretary by the prime minister-headed Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) in November 2014,[6][9][10] he assumed office on 3 November, and demitted it on 31 August 2015,[5] when he was appointed the Union Revenue Secretary.[5]

Revenue Secretary
Adhia with Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley, Minister of State Shiv Pratap Shukla on the diamond jubilee celebrations of the foundation of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence
Adhia addressing a press conference on Goods and Service Tax

Adhia was appointed as the Union Revenue Secretary by the ACC in August 2015,[11][12][13] he assumed office on 1 September 2015.[5][8]

In September 2017, after the retirement of Ashok Lavasa, Adhia was designated as the Finance Secretary, as he became the senior-most secretary in the Ministry of Finance.[14][15][16] Adhia retired from IAS and simultaneously demitted the offices of Finance Secretary and Revenue Secretary on 30 November 2018;[17][18] he was succeeded as Revenue Secretary by Unique Identification Authority of India's chief executive officer Ajay Bhushan Pandey,[19][20] and as Finance Secretary by Expenditure Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha, as the senior-most secretary in the Ministry of Finance.[21][22]

Ahead of his retirement, Adhia was praised by Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley, who called him "highly competent, disciplined, no-nonsense civil servant [...] with impeccable integrity,"[17][23] and said that Adhia refused important post-retirement assignment from the government and instead intended to focus on spirituality and caring for his son.[23][24]

During his tenure as Revenue Secretary, Adhia was regarded as one of the most powerful bureaucrats in India.[25]

Controversies

Adhia is considered one of the key persons behind the architecture and roll-out of the controversial Goods and Service Tax in India.[26] He is also considered to be privy to another major controversial move of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs. 1000 Currency notes which forced the retirement of 86 per cent of cash in circulation in India on 8 November 2016.[7][26][27]

He was also accused of diluting graft charges against congress leader like Sonia Gandhi, P.Chidambaram.[28] Hasmukh Adhia was accused of interfering and preventing promotion of Enforcement Directorate Joint Director Rajeshwar Singh.[29] BJP Leader Subramaniam Swamy filed a petition in Supreme Court in favour of Rajeshwar Singh.

Hasmukh Adhia was considered to be one of the key persons in bringing controversial LTCG tax for Stocks without any indexation benefits. This move was considered to be illogical and became largely unpopular in Indian Stock Market. This triggered Foreign Inverstors to pull out investment from Indian Stock Market and triggered a Market Crash on 2 February 2018, a day after the announcement was made.[30]

Hasmukh Adhia along with Indian Finance minister Arun Jaitley became highly unpopular after piling up taxes and cess on Indian Salaried Class instead of raising the tax slab. There was an outrage among salaried class when he was quoted saying "Why shouldn’t we tax a class that is investing in markets".[31]

Books
  • Adhia, Hasmukh (2007). Reinventing Government through HRM Strategies. Hyderabad: ICFAI University Press (published 5 October 2007). ISBN 978-8131412503.
  • Adhia, Hasmukh (2008). My Notes to Myself: Simple tips on human resource management taken from the diary of a bureaucrat (in English and Gujarati). Hyderabad: ICFAI University Press (published 28 March 2008). ISBN 978-8131414217.
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References
  1. "Officers borne on the IAS cadre of Gujarat" (PDF). Department of General Administration (Personnel Division), Government of Gujarat. 1 January 2016. p. 7. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  2. Roy Chowdhury, Jayanta (18 November 2018). "Hasmukh Adhia, Modi's man who knows too much". The Telegraph.
  3. "Government appoints Hasmukh Adhia as chairman of Bank of Baroda". livemint. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  4. "Hasmukh Adhia appointed Chancellor of Central University of Gujarat". The Indian Express. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  5. "Dr. Hasmukh Adhia - Executive Record sheet". Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  6. "PhD in Yoga, IIM-A gold medallist: All about Hasmukh Adhia, India's new financial services secy". Firstpost. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  7. Khanna, Rajeev (10 December 2017). "Meet Hasmukh Adhia: Note ban point man is a mascot for Modi's brand of governance". Catch News. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  8. "Dr. Hasmukh Adhia takes over as Revenue Secretary". Press Information Bureau of India. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  9. "Govt appoints Hasmukh Adhia as new financial services secretary". The Economic Times. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  10. Sinha, Shishir (3 November 2014). "Hasmukh Adhia to replace G S Sandhu as Financial Services Secretary". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  11. "Shaktikanta Das appointed Economic Affairs Secretary; Hasmukh Adhia is new Revenue Secretary". The Economic Times. New Delhi. 29 August 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  12. "Das is new economic affairs secy, Hasmukh Adhia revenue secretary". The Indian Express. New Delhi. 29 August 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  13. "Shaktikanta Das Takes Charge as Economic Affairs Secretary". New Delhi: NDTV. 2 September 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  14. "Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia designated Finance Secretary". The Economic Times. New Delhi. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  15. "From Revenue Secretary, Hasmukh Adhia now designated as Finance Secretary by Centre". The Financial Express. New Delhi. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  16. Prasad, Gireesh Chandra (6 November 2017). "Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia named finance secretary". Livemint. New Delhi: HT Media Ltd. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  17. "Finance Secretary Adhia to retire on Nov 30 Jaitley praises his contribution". The Week. New Delhi: Jacob Mathew. Press Trust of India. 17 November 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  18. "Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia to retire on November 30; Arun Jaitley praises his contribution". The New Indian Express. New Delhi. Express News Service. 18 November 2018. OCLC 243883379. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  19. "Ajay Bhushan Pandey takes over as Revenue Secretary". The Economic Times. New Delhi: The Times Group. Indo-Asian News Service. 30 November 2018. OCLC 61311680. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  20. "Ajay Bhushan takes over as Revenue Secretary". Business Line. Our Bureau. New Delhi: The Hindu Group. 30 November 2018. ISSN 0971-7528. OCLC 456162874. Retrieved 11 December 2018.CS1 maint: others (link)
  21. Mishra, Asit Ranjan (4 December 2018). "Ahead of retirement, AN Jha appointed finance secretary". Livemint. New Delhi: Vivek Khanna. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  22. "IAS officer A N Jha is new Finance Secretary, succeeds Hasmukh Adhia". Business Standard. New Delhi: Business Standard Ltd. Press Trust of India. 3 December 2018. OCLC 496280002. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  23. "Adhia turned down offers of important positions: Finance Minister". The Times of India. New Delhi: Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Times News Network. 18 November 2018. OCLC 23379369. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  24. Roychoudhury, Arup (2 December 2018). "Not a plum post-retirement role, but a stint in spirituality for Adhia". Business Standard. New Delhi: Business Standard Ltd. OCLC 496280002. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  25. Unnithan, Sandeep (19 April 2018). "Official Top 10: Hidden power". India Today. Aroon Purie. ISSN 0254-8399. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  26. Trevedie, Deepal; Gadgil, Makarand (30 June 2017). "The importance of being Hasmukh Adhia". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  27. "Hasmukh Adhia: Trusted aide of PM Modi, the man behind demonetisation is Finance Secretary". Money Control. 7 November 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  28. "Subramanian Swamy writes to Jaitley; demands prosecution of Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia". newsbharati.com.
  29. "Enforcement Directorate Joint Director Rajeshwar Singh's Scathing Attack On Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia". NDTV. Press Trust of India. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  30. Sikarwar, Deepshikha; Pandey, Vinay (3 February 2018). "Not worried by market crash, why encourage one asset alone: Adhia" – via The Economic Times.
  31. Nair, Remya (7 February 2018). "Budget 2018: Why shouldn't we tax a class that is investing in markets, says Hasmukh Adhia". livemint.com.
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