AMN / NEW DELHI
Former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das will be the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India, the government announced today. Das will replace Urjit Patel who resigned from the post on Monday.
Das was economic affairs secretary from 2015 to 2017, and worked closely with the central bank.
He is currently a member of the Finance Commission of India, and the government’s representative at the Group of 20 summits. The government 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 controversial demonetisation drive in 2016.
Das will take over after incumbent Urjit Patel abruptly resigned on Monday.
The RBI had been at loggerheads with the government for weeks, fending off pressure to ease lending restrictions and transfer more of its excess capital to the government. A board meeting had been scheduled for Friday, at which government representatives were expected to seek changes to the central bank’s governance structure.