Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra to succeed Shaktikanta Das as RBI Guv

The appointments committee of the Cabinet on Monday approved the appointment of Sanjay Malhotra, who's a 1990 batch IAS officer and currently serving as Secretary of the Department of Revenue, as the 26th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for three years, effective from December 11, 2024.

Malhotra will succeed Shaktikanta Das, who has completed two tenures as the RBI Governor starting December 12, 2018.

Who is Sanjay Malhotra?

Sanjay Malhotra is an engineering graduate in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, and has a master's in public policy from Princeton University, USA.

In his career of over 33 years, Malhotra has worked in various sectors including power, finance and taxation, information technology, mines etc.

Currently, he is secretary at the department of revenue in the ministry of finance. In his previous assignment, he had held the post of secretary in Department of Financial Services under the Ministry of Finance.

According to the finance ministry, he has an extensive experience in finance and taxation at the state as well as the central government. "As a part of his present assignment, he plays an instrumental role in tax policy formulation in respect of direct and indirect taxes."

Shaktikanta Das: The Ace Governor

Shaktikanta Das, an IAS officer, and former secretary at the Departments of Revenue and Economic Affairs, had assumed charge as the 25th governor of the RBI on December 12, 2018. His tenure was extended by three more years in 2021 amid the COVID-19 crisis, making him the fifth RBI governor to get tenure this long so far.

For the second time in a row, Shaktikanta Das received an 'A+' rating and was ranked among the top three central bankers in the Global Finance Central Banker Report Card 2024 by U.S.-based Global Finance magazine. In March 2023, Das was also named the 'Governor of the Year' for 2023 by Central Banking, another international economic research journal. Shaktikanta Das was the second RBI governor after Raghuram Rajan to have won the 'Governor of the Year' award.