Our Bureau
New Delhi
Parameswaran Iyer, India’s executive director to the World Bank group, has been named the country’s temporary nominee on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The development is significant as the IMF board will soon decide about a $1.3 billion support to Pakistan, a move being opposed by India in the wake of the Pahalgam attack on April 22.
Iyer has assumed the role after Krishnamurthy Subramanian was terminated on April 30, 2025 as India’s nominee for raising questions that were not aligned with the policies and amid allegations of impropriety by the economist in promoting his latest book, “’India@100: Envisioning Tomorrow’s Economic Powerhouse’.
K V Subramanian was the executive director at the IMF, and was due to complete a three-year tenure with the international body after six months.
The IMF Executive Board will meet on May 9, to take a call on a new USD 1.3 billion loan under a climate resilience loan programme, along with the first review of the ongoing USD 7 billion bailout package for Pakistan.
Going by official sources, it was necessary for India to nominate Iyer else the alternate executive director Harischandra Pahath Kumbure Gedara of Sri Lanka would have discharged duties of ED as per the rules of the Washington-based multilateral funding agency.
The executive board of the IMF is composed of 25 directors (executive directors or EDs) elected by the member countries or groups of countries. India is in a four-country constituency, along with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan as members.