T. V. Somanathan

T. V. Somanathan (born 10 May 1965) is an Indian bureaucrat and IAS officer who is serving as the Cabinet Secretary of India since 30 August 2024.^[2] Before this, he served as the Finance Secretary of India (Department of Expenditure).^[3][4][5] Prior to this appointment, he served as Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). He also worked as Director at the World Bank Group, Washington D.C., where he initially joined under its Young Professionals Program.^[6] He is a 1987 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre.^[6]

T. V. Somanathan, IAS
33rd Cabinet Secretary of India
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 August 2024
Appointed by	Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Rajiv Gauba
Finance Secretary of India
In office 28 April 2021 (2021-04-28) – 30 August 2024
Appointed by	Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
Minister	Nirmala Sitharaman
Preceded by	Ajay Bhushan Pandey
Succeeded by	Tuhin Kanta Pandey
Expenditure Secretary of India
In office 13 December 2019 (2019-12-13) – 30 August 2024
Preceded by	Girish Chandra Murmu
Succeeded by	Manoj Govil[1]
Personal details
Born	(1965-05-10) 10 May 1965 (age 60) Tamil Nadu, India
Residence(s)	12, Mother Teresa Crescent, New Delhi, 110011
Alma mater	Panjab University (BCom) (M.A) University of Calcutta (PhD Economics) Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (Chartered Accountant)
Occupation	IAS officer

Education

Somanathan holds a Ph.D. in economics from Calcutta University,^[6][7][8] an Executive Development Program diploma from Harvard Business School,^[6] Master of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from Panjab University. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (FCA), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, London, the Institute of Chartered Secretaries, London, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, London, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and the Institute of Cost Accountants of India.^[6] Somanathan has published numerous articles and papers on economics, finance, governance and public policy in academic journals and in the Hindu, Business Standard, Business Line, Indian Express, Fortune India, Yojana, Kurukshetra etc.^[7] He also was a Young Professional for the World Bank Group (1996).

Career

Somanathan appeared for the 1987 Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination and secured an All India Rank of 2nd behind Amir Subhani, who was the topper of the 1987 UPSC Civil Services Examination. Somanathan joined Indian Administrative Service getting posted in the Tamil Nadu Cadre.^[9]

Somanathan has served in various positions for both the Government of India and the Government of Tamil Nadu,^[6] including as Secretary to the Chief Minister, Managing Director of the Chennai Metro Rail Corporation, Principal Secretary in Special Initiatives department and Planning & Development department, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Additional Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Commissioner for Commercial Taxes, Tamil Nadu and served as the Finance Secretary of India.^[6][10]

Cabinet Secretary of India

T.V Somanathan took charge as Cabinet Secretary from Rajiv Gauba on 30 August 2024 after serving as Officer on Special Duty in the Cabinet Secretariat.^[2]

Publications

• Somanathan, T. V. (1998). Derivatives. McGraw Hill Education. ISBN 1108402712.^[6][11]
• Somanathan, T. V. (2005). Public Institutions in India Chapter entitled Civil Service An Institutional Perspective. Oxford University Press.^[6]
• Somanathan, T. V. & Anantha Nageswaran, V (2015). The Economics of Derivatives, Cambridge University Press.