Read in a minute about the First non-economist RBI Governor in last 28 years

Former Economic Affairs Secretary of India Mr. Shaktikanta Das assumed the RBI Governor’s office as 25^th Governor after Dr. Urjit Patel surprisingly withdrew himself from the post. Mr. Shaktikanta Das is the first I.A.S officer to assume the RBI Governor’s office after straight 28 years since, Mr. S. Venkitaraman left the office. Shaktikanta Das is 1980 batch I.A.S officer of Tamil Nadu cadre. He was earlier a member of the 15^th Finance Commission of India.

India’s Sherpa to the G20 born in Bhuvneshwar got his M.A. degree in History from St. Stephan’s College, Delhi University. He is also an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and National Institute of Banking and Management. Mr Das is the 14^th career bureaucrat including 12 IAS/ICS officers to hold the position. He has got the tenure as an RBI Governor till 2021.

He was appointed by PMO after the recommendation of the Finance Ministry. He was one of the key people involved in the execution of the demonetisation. He was question by BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy, The Economist himself for his association with former finance minister P Chitambaram in acquiring real estate in Mahabalipuram when Das was Industry Secretary in Tamil Nadu. He is in the good books of The Prime Minister.

The reason of abruptly quitting the position by Mr. Urjit Patel is unknown but all the eyes are set on Mr. Das, let’s see what his 3 year tenure brings for financial conditions of the nation.

“Every institution must maintain its professional integrity and autonomy, at the same time every institution must adhere to principles of accountability.” – Mr. Shaktikanta Das

“I believe he can engage with all the stakeholders because to my mind, many of the current issues and situations have come also because of a large gap in communication, which I am sure Mr. Das with his experience and past engagement would be able to fill in.” – S. S. Mundra, Former Deputy Governor, RBI

“The person itself doesn’t matter that much. What really matters is the process. So if you have a situation where a position as important as the governor of the RBI is filled within 24 hours of the resignation of the incumbent that will raise eyebrows. People are going to say the government must have already decided that this person is going to take over.” – Pronab Sen, Former Chief Statistician of India

Source: The Economic Times and NDTV