Know About 25th Governor of RBI: Shaktikanta Das

Former bureaucrat Shaktikanta Das, who as Economic Affairs Secretary steered the monetary situation post-demonetization, was named the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He has been appointed for a period of 3 years. Das has replaced Dr. Urjit Patel.

Here are some Important Points about Mr. Shaktikanta Das: 

1. Das will be the 25th governor of the RBI.

2. He will be the first bureaucrat to head the central bank in almost five years and will have a three-year term.

3. Das, a 1980-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, who retired as Economic Affairs secretary in May 2017, oversaw the re-monetisation of the economy after the shock decision to withdraw 86% of the currency in circulation in November 2016.

4. After his retirement, he was named India’s G-20 sherpa and also appointed as a member of the 15th Finance Commission.

5. Das, a history graduate from St Stephen’s College in Delhi, was brought to the Finance Ministry soon after the BJP-led NDA government came to power in mid-2014 and given charge of the crucial revenue department.

6. He also pursued a financial management course from IIM Bangalore.

7. He was later moved to the economic affairs department, which essentially deals with monetary policy and the RBI.

8. Shaktikanta Das is the first non-economist RBI Governor since 1990, when S Venkitaraman was appointed to the post. 

9. The last IAS officer to hold the office of RBI governor was D Subbarao, who was also an economist like his predecessor YV Reddy.