Amit Mitra quits FICCI, tipped to become W Bengal finance minister
19 May 2011
Eminent economist Amit Mitra, tipped to take over as finance minister of West Bengal, has quit as secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
Mitra, who steered the leading Indian business lobby for 17 years, especially during a tough phase in its 85-year-long history, helped professionalise the body and raised its profile, besides consolidating its finances.
A FICCI committee, comprising former chiefs and top industrialists including Y K Modi, Rajan Bharti Mittal, Harshpati Singhania and the current president, Harsh Mariwalla, will announce the name of his successor on Monday.
Rajiv Kumar, an Oxford-educated economist, who joined FICCI last September, as its first director-general, is expected to take over from Mitra.
Mitra, who is close to Mamata Bannerjee, the newly-elected chief minister of West Bengal, is expected to take over as the state's finance minister. The 63-year-old economist, who has a PhD from Duke University in the US, contested the recent assembly elections from Khardah in North 24 Parganas district, on a Trinamool Congress ticket and emerged a winner.
Mitra defeated Asim Dasgupta, the outgoing finance minister, beating him by a margin of over 26,000 votes.