PM Narendra Modi Appoints Shaktikanta Das RBI Governor

Former finance secretary and current member of the finance commission Shaktikanta Das has been appointed as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

New Delhi: Former finance secretary and current member of the finance commission Shaktikanta Das has been appointed as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The development came just a day after Urjit Patel resigned as the RBI Governor.

Das, a former economic affairs secretary from 2015 to 2017 is currently a member of the Finance Commission of India, and the government’s representative at the Group of 20 summits.

Modi initially brought Das into the Finance Ministry to head up the revenue department, later moving him to economic affairs, where he helped to spearhead the prime minister’s controversial demonetisation drive in 2016.

Das came under fire for his pro-demonetisation stance. In fact, last year he was criticised for the methodology of global rating agencies. Das later sought a sovereign rating upgrade. He has worked extensively in the budget division under both Modi’s government and the previous coalition led by the Congress.