Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Monday extended the tenure of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das by three months, reported ANI. He will retire from the post on May 31, 2017.

Das was appointed to the post on August 29, 2015. The Indian Administrative Service officer belongs to the 1980 batch of the Tamil Nadu cadre. This comes ahead of the Union Budget Session that will begin on January 31 and the Budget will be presented on February 1. The government has also decided to merge the Railway Budget with the Union Budget starting this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the Budget Session was advanced by a month to ensure speedier implementation of schemes.