India finance minister to step down Pranab Mukherjee, India's finance minister, will step down this month to run for president, the ruling Congress party said on Friday. Mr Mukherjee's decision to resign to contest the election for what is a largely ceremonial role is likely to offer the ailing Congress-led coalition government an opportunity to reshuffle the cabinet in an effort to revive India's waning economy. Chakravarthy Rangarajan, chairman of the prime minister's economic advisory council, is believed to be the frontrunner to take over as finance minister, according to political and economic analysts in New Delhi and Mumbai. "[Mr Mukherjee] has a long and distinguished record of public service spanning over five decades," said Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party, as she announced the candidature today of the veteran leader. Global investors are likely to welcome the exit of the septuagenarian finance minister, who has often been blamed for failing to push through reforms seen as essential to attract investment. Mr Mukherjee disappointed investors in his last budget after he introduced a proposed tax avoidance law and a retrospective tax on certain international transactions. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, head of the Centre for Policy Research think-tank, said it was unclear whether Mr Mukherjee's departure from the finance ministry, where he has been accused of adopting a bureaucratic process of economic management, signalled a change in direction for the government. My own sense is that the Congress is seriously confused. They need to signal a break from the past and a sense of new energy," Mr Mehta said. If the government wants to set a new direction in economic policy, there is nothing that prevents them from doing that. India became the latest developing economy to see its once breakneck growth slow sharply after it reported that its economy expanded at an annual rate of 5.3 per cent in the three months to March, the slowest expansion in almost a decade, thanks largely to political paralysis. Ms Gandhi said: "There is broad support for his [Mr Mukherjee's] candidature." But Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and leader of the Trinamool party, a key ally of the government, rejected Mr Mukherjee's candidacy. That will force Congress to seek support from opposition parties to ensure their man is voted in. Mr Mehta said the Congress decision to select Mr Mukherjee as its candidate would allow the opposition Bharatiya Janata party to support his candidacy without "losing face."