As global markets reeled and Dow Jones index plunged below 10,000 for the first time in four years, Neel Kashkari, a 35-year old Indian American, was put at centre stage of US efforts to rescue the economy from a deepening crisis.


US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Monday named his key aide Kashkari, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, as the interim head for its new Office of Financial Stability, including the Troubled Asset Relief Programme.


Currently the assistant treasury secretary for international economics and development, the son of migrants from Jammu and Kashmir, will manage the centerpiece of the $700 billion financial rescue plan he helped Paulson draft as he negotiated with the Congress.


Kashkari's appointment came as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was off 800 points at its intraday low, ended down 369.88 points, or 3.6 percent at 9955.50, hurt by declines in all 30 of its blue-chip components.