He has served continuously for more than 39 Years in varied assignments of the Government of India and the State Government of Himachal Pradesh. His nearly four decades of hands-on experience includes diverse sectors such as Finance, Planning, Disinvestment and Privatization, Banking and Institutional Finance, Defence, Energy, Commerce, Industries, Public Sector Corporations, Health, Education, Agriculture, Cooperatives, Training, Social Welfare & Women Empowerment.

He formally retired as Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. His final tenure (2017-2020) as Secretary of the 15th Finance Commission of India (a Constitutional post appointment) gave him a unique work opportunity at the nerve centre of India’s Public Finances and Federal Finance issues. This deep domain experience (along with a Commerce Ministry and Niti Aayog stint) serves as a springboard for him to critically appraise the multiple economic issues which are faced by India.

He has served at the Director/Joint Secretary level in the Government of India in the Defence and Disinvestment Ministries, Planning Commission and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). His longest, seven years continuous posting, has been as the Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce – between October 2009 till October 2016. He was India’s lead Trade negotiator for all neighboring South Asian (SAARC) countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Iran, from 2009-2014. Besides the SAFTA (South Asia Free Trade Agreement) negotiations, he was India’s Chief Negotiator for RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) Trade negotiations for the years 2014-2016. He was also simultaneously, India’s Chief Negotiator for the bilateral Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand. As ‘Trade Policy Division’ (TPD) chief, Arvind has been India’s Multilateral Trade Agreements negotiator and has shaped India’s Trade Policy in the WTO (World Trade Organization) and India-EU FTA (European Union Free Trade Agreement).

In the Commerce Ministry, he also coordinated all export promotion schemes of the Government. He worked closely with all Apex Chambers of Commerce, such as FICCI, CII, PHD Chamber, etc., on specific industries/exports issues. Additionally, Arvind has worked closely on Healthcare Services exports and Project exports (BHEL, AFCON, GAMMONS, L&T, ESSAR STEEL, SAIL, IRCON, POWERGRID, etc.), for structuring country-specific export strategies and financial support through EXIM BANK and insurance support of ECGC. He specifically devised financial products to support India’s Project exports.

In Himachal Pradesh, he has been responsible for formulating more than ten Budgets of the State Government (including some as Finance Secretary) between 1990 and 2009. These opportunities have provided him with deep domain knowledge across all sovereign functions, including the interplay between State and Central Government schemes/infrastructure projects.

Arvind has an abiding interest in the evolving challenges between poverty and water security in the context of climate change, energy security and affordability. He used his experience – as a Distinguished Fellow (2021-2022) in NITI Aayog – to sharpen policy responses in various economic policy areas.

In June 2022, the Government of India appointed Arvind for three years till June 2025 as Chairman (part-time) of the Himachal Pradesh State Environment Impact Assessment Authority – a responsibility for balancing environmental concerns in the ongoing developmental processes.

Based upon his varied work experience as well as his stint as Distinguished Fellow at NITI Aayog, Arvind takes guest faculty lectures for Government officers at various training institutes such as National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics for Indian Revenue Service officers, National Academy for Audit and Accounts for Indian Audit and Accounts Service officers, Himachal Institute for Public Administration for Administrative Service officers, National Defence College for Armed Forces officers.

He has co-authored a book, “Reflections on India’s Public Policies,” which has been recently published in May, 2023. This book contains his detailed thoughts on ‘unfinished tasks’ of Public Finance, pertaining to issues such as Finance Commissions, job creation strategies, climate change and water security issues, Free Trade Agreements, specific health and tourism policies, additional revenue generation by the Government, etc.

Arvind Mehta is an alumnus of St. Xavier’s School Delhi (1966-1979), St. Stephen’s College (1979-1982) with a First Division in BA (Economics Honours). He topped the Delhi School of Economics (DSE) entrance/scholarship exam and was awarded the academic merit scholarship in DSE. After completing his Masters in Economics in 1984, he was selected through competitive exams and interviews by the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) in 1984 itself; for both the Indian Economics Service (all India merit rank of 3) and also for the Indian Administrative Service with an all-India rank of 27. During the course of his career, he has done short training courses at Harvard University, IIMs, etc.

He has been his school Sports captain, with the distinction of being selected to represent Delhi State teams several times for both the Swimming and Basketball National games. Based upon his performance for the Delhi State team in the Basketball Nationals Championship held in Dharamshala (Himachal) in 1976, he was also selected for the Indian Schoolboys Basketball team. Besides his interest in other sports, such as Tennis, Badminton and Table Tennis, Arvind has had an abiding interest in Chess since childhood. At LBSNAA (Lal Bahadur National Academy of Administration), he was the Chess Champion for the IAS and other Civil Services batch of 1984. All his extracurricular activities have contributed towards helping him become a dedicated team player – both at work and in off-work activities.