CHENNAI, Jan 28 (Reuters) - India's government said on Friday it had appointed former business school dean and economics professor V Anantha Nageswaran as its chief economic adviser (CEA), after his predecessor stepped down in December.

Nageswaran's appointment comes days before the annual budget on Tuesday. The chief economic adviser generally authors the economic survey - a document that indicates the government's policy direction and serves as a precursor to the budget.

India will release the survey on Monday, with projections for economic growth for fiscal 2022/23, a day ahead of the budget to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

K.V. Subramanian, Nageswaran's predecessor, stepped down last month after completing his three-year tenure, and he has since returned to academia.

"He (Nageswaran) has also been a part-time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India from 2019 to 2021," the Indian government said in a statement.

Nageswaran has taught at several business schools and institutes of management in India and in Singapore and has extensively published academic research papers, the statement said. (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; editing by John Stonestreet and Hugh Lawson)