After serving for six years with an illustrious career, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das hanged his boots.
The 25th Governor of RBI is the second-longest-serving RBI governor after Benegal Rama Rau, who held the position for seven and a half years in the 1950s.
From an IAS officer to becoming a non-economic background RBI Governor, who sailed the ship in tough times like COVID, Das has a range of medals to shine.
As the government has announced the appointment of Sanjay Malhotra as the 26th RBI Governor, here is a quick look at the outgoing RBI Governor:
Also Read: Who is Sanjay Malhotra? RBI’s new Governor replacing Shaktikanta Das
Born in 1957
Shaktikanta Das was born on February 26, 1957 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha in a modest household.
Education:
Das attended Demonstration Multipurpose School in Bhubaneswar. Later, he pursued history at St. Stephen’s College at Delhi University.
He is also a retired Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.
Some reports have also said that Das went to pursue a course in Financial Management from IIM-Bangalore, and received a mid-career training from IIM Ahmedabad.
Shaktikanta Das as IAS:
Shaktikanta Das joined the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer of Tamil Nadu cadre in 1980. He did some remarkable work in his tenure are the District Magistrate in Dindigul and Kancheepuram.
He also served as the Special Commissioner (Revenue) and Principal Secretary (Industries) for the Tamil Nadu government.
Further in the Union Government, he was appointed as the Union Revenue Secretary in 2014.
Later in 2015, he assumed the role of Economic Affairs Secretary.
It is to be highlighted that the last IAS officer to hold the office of RBI governor before Das was D Subbarao.
Das and controversies during IAS tenure
In 2016, a controversy from the past cropped up. At that time, he was serving as the economic affairs secretary.
The controversy was related to land allotment to a US company in Tamil Nadu. The US company had got 100 acres of land about 50 km from Chennai in 2007 at a price that allegedly existed in 1970.
Subramanian Swamy brought out the charge of irregularities in the concessional land allotment, and accused Das of illegally favouring P Chidambaram, the Congress leader and former Union finance minister.
Das assumes charge as RBI chief in 2018
In was on December 12, 2018 when Shaktikanta Das was named as the Governor of RBI after Urjit Patel had resigned citing personal reasons.
Notably, Patel had resigned after months of bickering between the government and the RBI, and many believed it was an outcome of the dispute over the transfer of surplus reserves to the government and liquidity for non-banking companies.
Awards and achievements of Shaktikanta Das
Das has been awarded at multiple stages including Reputation on Global stage- IMF, G20, BRICS, SAARC.
He has also been honoured with the title of ‘Governor of the Year’ for 2023 by Central Banking in London.
Further, Shaktikanta Das has also been regarded as the Top Central Banker by Global Finance Central Banker Report Cards 2024 for the second consecutive year.
