MSME secy Arvind Sharma takes VRS amid buzz about his next assignment

NEW DELHI: Arvind Kumar Sharma, MSME secretary, among the murmuring that he, as an IAS officer, is going to be assigned a prized responsibility, has taken voluntary retirement; while he is an officer who has worked closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi since the leader was Gujarat CM.

It was scheduled that Mr. Sharma would retire in July 2022; until last year, he was additional secretary in the PMO. According to an order issued by the ministry of MSME "the 1988-batch IAS officer’s request for VRS was accepted on Monday, 11 January 2021.
His sudden departure, days after he was assigned the additional charge of textiles ministry, has set off speculation about his next assignment.

There is a speculation set off about his next assignment, since right few days after the additional assignment of textiles ministry, all of a sudden he abdicated his job.
Sharma’s departure caused at least half-a-dozen ministries to be left without a full-time secretary, including the two he was in-charge of. In April 2020, on promotion as secretary, he had moved to the MSME ministry, in what was seen as a major surprise. He is credited with working closely with the PMO and the finance ministry in rolling out a package for the sector, including a much-delayed change of investment caps.

He has been part of PM Modi’s core team and was part of the CM’s office in Gujarat. He moved into PMO along with Modi and is seen to have been an efficient and effective officer.