New Delhi: A day after Urjit Patel resigned abruptly citing personal reasons, the Centre on Tuesday appointed former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das as governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Shaktikanta Das, who hogged headlines in 2016 for supporting the demonitisation drive of the NDA government, is a 1980-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer.
He was economic affairs secretary from 2015 to 2017, and has worked closely with the RBI. He was one of the contenders for the top post when Raghuram Rajan’s term ended. He is also a member of the Finance Commission of India, and represents the country at the G-20 summits.
Das has the widest experience in budget making and also dealt with the central bank on monetary policy issues because of his assignments in the ministry, first as joint secretary (budget), then as special secretary in the economic affairs department, revenue secretary, and as economic affairs secretary. He has been part of the seven central budgets during his tenure.
This man from Odisha is an alumni of DM School in Bhubaneswar. He then did his Masters degree from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi.
Das has been appointed for a 3-year term, according to a government release.
