Amaravati, The Andhra Pradesh government has appointed Rajnish Kumar as its economic advisor. A former SBI chairman, Rajnish Kumar's tenure in the cabinet rank position is for two years.

The appointment comes amid the growing concerns over the state's financial situation which has been badly hit by the Covid pandemic, even as the opposition has been critical over the sops and freebies being distributed by the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy-led state government.

Rajnish Kumar's appointment on Monday is expected to help the state government steer through the financially tough juncture.

Rajnish Kumar who had retired as SBI chairman in October 2006, is an independent non-executive director at the HongKong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.