Atulesh Jindal, a 1978-batch Indian Revenue Service officer, has been appointed as the new chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
Jindal replaces AK Jain, an officer of the same batch, a government statement said on Friday.
Jain was named the chairman following the superannuation of Anita Kapur on November 30. He also held additional charge of Member (Personnel and Vigilance) in the CBDT, a seven-member board under the finance ministry that oversees policies related to direct taxes.
Jindal’s appointment comes a month before the Narendra Modi government is to present its second full budget. The finance ministry had last month announced allocation of responsibilities to the CBDT for budget preparations where Jindal was to look after the income tax portfolio.
The appointment comes a month before the Narendra Modi government is to present its second full budget
The government will have an uphill task preparing the budget given the fiscal constraints it faces and the fact that it has to kick-start investment in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
While there were quite a few changes at the top level, a Reuters report on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may be looking at a cabinet rejig after the budget that may involve replacing Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with Piyush Goyal, who heads the power and coal ministries and is credited with turning around the fortunes of state-run miner Coal India Ltd.
