Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is nearly ready with his A-team for the next budget with the government on Tuesday appointing revenue secretary Raminder Singh Gujral as the new finance secretary.

Gujral, who is higher in the seniority list among his batchmates—expenditure secretary Sumit Bose and economic affairs secretary R Gopalan— was the surprise pick given that he was not in the reckoning till his appointment in the revenue department three weeks ago. TOI was the first to report that Gujral, a 1976 batch IAS officer from the Haryana cadre, would be the next finance secretary.

While chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu and disinvestment secretary Mohammad Haleem Khan are the other secretary-rank officials, there is one gap – financial services secretary – that Mukherjee needs to fill. But that is a small worry as the government is keen on ensuring its budget targets on expenditure, revenue, disinvestment and deficit are met.

Gujral's experience in trade and road construction are also going to come handy in his new role, where apart from revenue-related issues, his main task would be coordination in budget preparation. (Times of India)