Shaktikanta Das appointed as new RBI Governor

Former finance secretary and current member of the Finance Commission, Shaktikanta Das has been appointed as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The appointment comes as Urjit Patel resigned on Monday from his post on account of personal reasons with immediate effect.

Das was appointed as India's sherpa at the recent two-day annual G20 meeting held at Buenos Aires. Shaktikanta Das is a retired 1980 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Tamil Nadu cadre. Earlier he was the member of the 15th Finance Commission of India.

Das served in various positions for both the Government of India and the Government of Tamil Nadu as Principal Secretary (Industries), Special Commissioner (Revenue), Secretary (Revenue), Secretary (Commercial Taxes), Project Director of Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society and as the district magistrate and collector of Dindigul and Kancheepuram districts in the Tamil Nadu government and as Union Economic Affairs Secretary, Union Revenue Secretary, Union Fertilizers Secretary, special secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance and as a joint secretary in the Department of Expenditure of the Ministry of Finance in the Indian government.

His last presentation on structural reforms in budgeting such as merger of the railway Budget with the general budget and ending distinction between Plan and Non-Plan expenditure have had a positive impact on public expenditure.