E S L Narasimhan, an officer of the 1968 batch, will be the next Intelligence Bureau chief.

A formal communication to this effect is likely to be made on the return of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh [Images] to New Delhi [Images] on Wednesday after a two-day trip to West Bengal.

Narasimhan is currently special director, IB, and is the most senior official after the current IB chief, Ajit Doval, who will retire on January 31.

According to sources, Dr Singh had agreed to his name before leaving for West Bengal, but some formalities are yet to be completed.

Narasimhan is a confidant of National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and he will be IB chief for almost ten months.

However, the government has not yet decided who will be the next chief of the Research and Analysis Wing.

RAW chief C D Sahay retires along with Doval.

Amongst those in the race include Amber Sen and J K Sinha of RAW.

The name of Hormis Tharakarn, director general of police, Kerala [Images] is also being mentioned in the bureaucratic circles.