Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant to replace Piyush Goyal as India's G-20 Sherpa

Kant, who took over as the NITI Aayog CEO in 2016, stepped down last month. He was succeeded by Parameswaran Iyer, a 1980 batch retired IAS officer. In his six-year tenure, Kant drove several key policy initiatives aimed at promoting India's industries, manufacturing sector and startup ecosystem, among others.

Meanwhile, sources said that Goyal has been tasked with other pressing duties such as the Leader of the Rajya Sabha. "This combined with intensive workload in Ministries such as Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, would limit his involvement at this critical time," sources said.

As Sherpa, Goyal's foreign travel, too, gets curtailed during the Parliament sessions, which makes the work difficult to sustain, the sources added. The initiatives led by Goyal such as FTA negotiations with the UK and EU would require all his attention and his guidance would be needed at the WTO as well, sources said.

In February this year, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat and its reporting structures. It also approved staffing for the secretariat.

The body will be responsible for the implementation of overall policy decisions and arrangements needed for steering India’s forthcoming G20 Presidency.