David C Mulford, a seasoned but controversial dealmaker, is likely to take over as the next American ambassador to India.

According to sources in New Delhi, India has okayed the appointment. The only formality now is his confirmation by the US senate.

India Abroad, a community newspaper for the Indian-American community, owned by rediff.com, had first reported the news in August.

A 1959 graduate of Lawrence University, Wisconsin, Mulford earned his PhD from Oxford. He has authored two books on Africa.

He is a financial expert with good connections in the US administration and corporates.

A staunch Republican supporter, who has contributed handsomely to GOP coffers, he is a friend of the Bush family and has always been much sought-after consultant on foreign debt.

His recent claim to fame is an article in the Financial Times in which he made a strong case for the Bush administration to write off Iraq's debt to alleviate the lot of its people. To reinforce his case, he cited Vietnam and former Yugoslav republics as precedents.

An investment banker of more than 30 years, he is more at home with economics than politics.

He was the undersecretary of treasury from 1984 to 1992.

In 2001 he was the US ambassador to Argentina when the country was passing through an economic crisis. A deal that he pushed through for debt-swap reportedly led to the collapse of the Argentine economy and government.

Till recently he was the chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston International.

"Beyond joint exercises and diplomatic niceties it is in economic relations the actual results might be visible. Mulford is the right man to push the relations on that front," a source said.