Shaktikanta Das

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Shaktikanta Das
Shaktikanta Das, IAS (cropped).jpg
Shaktikanta Das addressing a press conference in New Delhi on 15 December 2016
14th Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 February 2025
Servingwith Pramod Kumar Mishra
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Preceded by Rajiv Mehrishi
Succeeded byJugal Kishore Mohapatra
Personal details
Born (1957-02-26) 26 February 1957 (age 68)
Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
Alma mater St. Stephen's College, Delhi (BA, MA)
Delhi University
University of Birmingham (MPA)
OccupationRetired IAS officer
Profession Civil servant
Signature Shaktikanta Das signature-en.jpg

Shaktikanta Das (born 26 February 1957) is an Indian politician and former Indian Administrative Service officer who is currently serving as the 14th Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India. He previously served as the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He was also a member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission and India's Sherpa to the G20.

Contents

While serving as an IAS officer, Das held a number of positions for the Central and Tamil Nadu State governments, including as the Economic Affairs Secretary, Revenue Secretary, and the Fertilizers Secretary. Additionally, he has held the positions of Alternate Governor for India at the World Bank, ADB, NDB and AIIB. He has represented India in a number of international forums like the IMF, G20, BRICS, and SAARC.

Early life and education

Born in Bhubaneswar, [1] Das attended the Demonstration Multipurpose School, Bhubaneswar, [2] and then attained a bachelor's (BA) and a master's degrees (MA) in History from the St. Stephen's College, Delhi of Delhi University. [3] [4] He has a postgraduate degree in public administration from the University of Birmingham. [5] He also completed a course in financial management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and received mid-career training from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In recognition of his contributions to public administration, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) by Utkal University in 2021. [6] [2]

Indian Administrative Services career

Das joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1980 as part of the Tamil Nadu cadre. [5] Das served the Government of India and the Government of Tamil Nadu in a number of capacities, including as Principal Secretary (Department of Industries (Tamil Nadu)), Special Commissioner (Department of Revenue (Tamil Nadu)), Secretary (Revenue), Secretary Commercial Taxes, the project director of Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society and as the district magistrate and collector of Dindigul and Kancheepuram districts in the Tamil Nadu government. [1] [3] [7]

Das has also served as the Union Economic Affairs Secretary, Union Revenue Secretary, Union Fertilizers Secretary, Special secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance and as a joint secretary in the Department of Expenditure of the Ministry of Finance in the Indian government. [1] [3] Under Rule 6(2)(ii) of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) (Cadre) Rules, 1954, Das had a stint with Mahindra Industrial Park Ltd (Mahindra World City) as Joint Secretary while on deputation to a private sector organisation. [7] [3] [8] Additionally, he has held the positions of Alternate Governor for India at the World Bank, ADB, NDB and AIIB. He has represented India in a number of international forums like the IMF, G20, BRICS, and SAARC. [4]

Revenue Secretary

Das (left) with the United States ambassador to India Richard Verma (right) on the signing of FATCA in New Delhi on 9 July 2015 Shaktikanta Das, IAS signing FATCA.jpg
Das (left) with the United States ambassador to India Richard Verma (right) on the signing of FATCA in New Delhi on 9 July 2015

In June 2014, the Prime Minister-led-Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) named Das as the Union Revenue Secretary. [9] [10] His tenure started on 16 June 2014, and concluded on 31 August 2015. [3] [7]

Economic Affairs Secretary

Das (right) with Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley (centre) and the president of Confederation of Indian Industry, Naushad Forbes (left) Arun Jaitley, the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Shri Shaktikanta Das and the President, CII, Shri Naushad Forbes.jpg
Das (right) with Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley (centre) and the president of Confederation of Indian Industry, Naushad Forbes (left)

Das was appointed Union Economic Affairs Secretary by the ACC in August 2015. [11] [3] He assumed the office of Secretary on 31 August 2015, [3] [12] and admitted it and simultaneously superannuated from service on 28 May 2017 [3] [12] after being given a three-month extension by the government. [13] [14] [15]

On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes with the objective of increasing cashless transactions and reducing the use of illicit and counterfeit cash. [16] [17] Das was the senior Department of Economic Affairs official in the finance ministry during the planning and implementation phase of the initiative and was widely reported as one of the principal government officials coordinating the administrative response. [18] [5] Das was also among the senior officials in the Ministry of Finance during the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax and worked in drawing up the legislation and coordinating with the states for a successful implementation, which came into effect on 1 July 2017. [19] [20]

Post-retirement

After his retirement from the IAS, Das was appointed a member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission by the ACC. [21] In addition, he was appointed as India's Sherpa to the G20 by the ACC. [22] In December 2018, on his appointment as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Das resigned from his position in the Fifteenth  Finance Commission. [23]

Governor of the Reserve Bank of India

On 11 December 2018, Das was appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for a three-year term. His predecessor Urjit Patel had resigned the day before. [24] [25] Das received an extension in December 2021 for a period of three years. [26] [27] As RBI governor, Das served as the ex-officio chairperson of the Monetary Policy Committee of the central bank. [28] [29]

Responses

Das's appointment as RBI governor received mostly positive responses, [30] [31] with DBS Bank's head of markets for India at Singapore, Ashish Vaidya, saying that previous governors of the RBI with an IAS background, such as Y. Venugopal Reddy and Duvvuri Subbarao, had been successful and that Das's "cordial relations with the government [...] [would] likely help policy negotiations." [32] S. S. Mundra, a former deputy governor of the RBI, said Das was a "good and balanced choice" for RBI governorship and had "a good understanding of the whole of the financial sector both from the ministry and also in his interactions with the RBI." [33] [33] A former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, C. Rangarajan, said Das had "experience in economic affairs" and would "make a good governor". [30] Gaurang Shah, a senior vice president at Geojit Financial Services, said "a name like Shaktikanta Das carries track record, experience, credentials, credibility and respect along with him." [33]

Industry bodies like Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) described the appointment as a "great choice", citing his administrative experience, familiarity with India's financial issues, and participation in international forums such as the G20. [34] Reactions of the markets was also positive, with BSE SENSEX gaining 629 points and NIFTY 50 increasing by 188 points. [35] [36]

On the other hand, Nobel laureate and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Abhijit Banerjee, said Das's appointment posed a lot of "frightening" questions on governance of autonomous public institutions. [31] Subramanian Swamy, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the largest party of the ruling National Democratic Alliance coalition, and a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha (Council of the States), criticised Das, calling him a "corrupt person" at an event at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. [37] [38]

He also became the subject of widespread commentary and jokes on social media. On Twitter, some users joked about his MA in History with quips wondering if he would turn the RBI "into history" and asking him history-quiz questions like the date of the Battle of Haldighati. Google Trends data indicated that searches related to Das's educational qualifications surged immediately following the announcement of his appointment. [39]

Initiatives

In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted economic activity, the RBI under Das took a sequence of emergency actions to preserve credit flows and inject system liquidity. The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee held an emergency meeting on 27 March 2020 and cut the policy repo rate by 75 basis points, including a 3-month moratorium on term loans. [40] [41] By May 2020, the central bank had cumulatively reduced the repo rate by 115 bps over two months, injected liquidity equivalent to 8.7% of India's GDP, and introduced targeted relief to strengthen transmission and financial stability. [42] [43]

One of Das's first major challenges was addressing the liquidity crisis in the non-banking financial company (NBFC) sector following the IL&FS default in 2018. In October 2021, the RBI, issued a scale-based regulatory framework for NBFCs, reorganising supervision according to size, activities and systemic importance and imposing enhanced governance, disclosure and prudential standards for larger NBFCs, along with stricter norms to curb excessive risk-taking. [44] [45] [46]

The RBI continued to prioritise digital payment infrastructure under Das. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) became the dominant retail payment method by volume and value, based on NPCI statistics. [47] According to the International Monetary Fund, UPI has averaged growth rates of 160% annually since its launch in 2016. [44] During an address at the Grand Finale of the G20 TechSprint 2023, Das said that UPI has become the backbone of digital payments in India and has helped to catalyse a wave of innovations in the fintech sector. [48] By mid-2024, over 14 billion transactions per month were recorded by UPI and transaction values regularly surpassing ₹20 trillion. [46] The RBI also launched limited pilot programmes for a retail central bank digital currency (e₹) on 1 December 2022, operating initially within closed user groups to test issuance, distribution and use cases. [49]

Awards

For his efforts to strengthen the banking sector, he was given the Central Banker of the Year, Asia-Pacific 2020 award by the London-based publication The Banker . [50] Das was honoured with the title of 'Governor of the Year 2023' from Central Banking, a financial newspaper also located in London. [51] [44] He was rated "A+" in the Global Finance Central Banker Report Cards 2023 and 2024 consecutively. [52] Das was placed at the top of the list of three central bank governors who have been rated A+. [53] [54]

Das as the chief guest at the alumni meet of his school DM-School-alumni-meet.jpg
Das as the chief guest at the alumni meet of his school

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India

In February 2025, Das was appointed as the second Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. He is serving alongside Pramod Kumar Mishra, who was appointed in 2019, as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. [55] [4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Siddharta; Gupta, Surojit (12 December 2018). "Shaktikanta Das: A budget veteran comes to Mint Street". The Times of India . New Delhi: Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. OCLC   23379369. Archived from the original on 16 September 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  2. 1 2 PTI (23 February 2025). "Shaktikanta Das: Veteran bureaucrat who helmed RBI through Covid-19". Nagaland Tribune. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Shaktikanta Das – Executive Record Sheet". Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India . Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 "Shaktikanta Das appointed new Principal Secretary: What does the post entail?". The Indian Express. 23 February 2025. Archived from the original on 4 May 2025. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 "Shaktikanta Das: The man behind GST, note ban and monetary response during Covid". Deccan Herald. 9 December 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  6. ↑ "Utkal University's 50th Convocation: RBI Governor among 5 receives D.Litt degree". Sambad English . 3 April 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 "Shaktikanta Das: After Raghuram Rajan, another RBI governor with a Tamil connection". The New Indian Express. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  8. ↑ "The Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) rules, 1954" (PDF). Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India . 1954. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  9. ↑ "Shaktikanta Das appointed as Revenue Secretary". Business Standard . New Delhi. Press Trust of India. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  10. ↑ Sinha, Shishir (14 June 2014). "Shaktikanta Das appointed as Revenue Secretary". Business Line . New Delhi: The Hindu Group. ISSN   0971-7528. OCLC   456162874 . Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  11. ↑ "Das is new economic affairs secy, Hasmukh Adhia revenue secretary". The Indian Express . New Delhi. Express News Service. 29 August 2015. OCLC   70274541. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  12. 1 2 "Shaktikanta Das Takes Charge as Economic Affairs Secretary". NDTV . New Delhi. 2 September 2015. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  13. ↑ "DEA Secretary Shaktikanta Das gets 3-month extension". The Hindu . New Delhi. 23 January 2017. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  14. ↑ "DEA Secretary Shaktikanta Das gets 3-month extension". Business Standard . New Delhi. Press Trust of India. 23 January 2017. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  15. ↑ "Govt extends Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das' tenure by 3 months". The Economic Times . New Delhi. 24 January 2017. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  16. ↑ Hebbar, Nistula (27 November 2016). "Modi urges country to become a cashless society". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  17. ↑ "Withdrawal of Legal Tender Status for ₹ 500 and ₹ 1000 Notes: RBI Notice (Revised)". Reserve Bank of India. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  18. ↑ Choudhury, Suvashree (11 December 2018). "Moving fast, India names Modi demonetization backer as central bank head". Reuters. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  19. ↑ archive, From our online (28 February 2017). "GST to come into effect from July 1: Shaktikanta Das". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  20. ↑ "Shaktikanta Das: Man in charge of demonetisation, GST rollout is new RBI governor". Moneycontrol. Archived from the original on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  21. ↑ "NK Singh appointed Chairman of 15th Finance Commission". Business Line. New Delhi: The Hindu. 27 November 2017. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  22. ↑ "Shaktikanta Das appointed India's G20 Sherpa until December 31, 2018". The Financial Express . New Delhi. 27 November 2017. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  23. ↑ "Acceptance of resignation of Shri Shaktikanta Das-Member, FFC" (PDF). Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India . 11 December 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  24. ↑ Langa, Mahesh (11 December 2018). "Shaktikanta Das appointed as RBI Governor". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  25. ↑ Prasad, Gireesh Chandra; Ghosh, Shayan; Gopakumar, Gopika (11 December 2018). "Shaktikanta Das, who oversaw demonetization, is new RBI governor". Livemint . New Delhi/Mumbai: Vivek Khanna. Archived from the original on 12 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  26. ↑ "Shaktikanta Das to start his extended 3-year tenure as RBI governor". Hindustan Times. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  27. ↑ "Shaktikanta Das given 3-year extension as RBI governor". The Hindu. 29 October 2021. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  28. ↑ "Newly appointed deputy governor to look after RBI's monetary policy division". Livemint . Mumbai: Vivek Khanna. Press Trust of India. 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  29. ↑ "RBI appoints ED Janak Raj as member of MPC". The Economic Times . Mumbai. Press Trust of India. 29 January 2020. ISSN   0013-0389. OCLC   61311680. Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  30. 1 2 "Shaktikanta Das handled all his assignments well". The Hindu . Chennai: N. Ram. 11 December 2018. ISSN   0971-751X. OCLC   13119119. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  31. 1 2 "MIT economist Abhijit Banerjee flays government in appointing Shaktikanta Das as RBI Governor". The Financial Express . Press Trust of India. 11 December 2018. OCLC   30000665. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  32. ↑ Das, Saikat (11 December 2018). "How Shaktikanta Das may aid regain overseas investor confidence". The Economic Times . Mumbai: The Times Group. OCLC   61311680. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  33. 1 2 3 Kurup, Krishna V.; Thomas, Chris; Monnappa, Chandini; Dasgupta, Neha (11 December 2018). Miglani, Sanjeev; Ravikumar, Sai Sachin (eds.). "Expert Views: India appoints Shaktikanta Das as RBI governor". Reuters . Bengaluru/New Delhi. Reuters. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  34. ↑ "India Inc sees 'great choice' in Shaktikanta Das' appointment as RBI Governor - BusinessToday". Business Today. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
  35. ↑ "Closing bell: Sensex surges 629 points, Nifty above 10,700 after RBI chief appointment". Livemint . Mumbai: Vivek Khanna. 12 December 2018. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  36. ↑ "Sensex, Nifty post biggest 1-day gain in 5 weeks; here are 3 key reasons behind surge". The Financial Express . 12 December 2018. OCLC   30000665. Archived from the original on 12 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  37. ↑ "RBI chief Saktikanta Das 'corrupt', says Swamy". The Telegraph . Hyderabad. Press Trust of India. 23 December 2018. OCLC   271717941. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  38. ↑ "Subramanian Swamy claims new RBI governor Shaktikanta Das is a 'corrupt person'". Scroll.in . 23 December 2018. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  39. ↑ "Shaktikanta Das turns butt of jokes on Twitter". The Telegraph India . 12 December 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
  40. ↑ Nag, Anirban; Singh, Siddhartha (27 March 2020). "India Cuts Rate, Unleashes $50 Billion Stimulus In Virus Fight". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  41. ↑ "RBI Highlights: Shaktikanta Das allows to pause loan EMIs for 3 months; announces 75 bps emergency repo rate cut". The Financial Express. 27 March 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  42. ↑ "In 8th straight cut, RBI slashes key rate 40 basis points to new all-time low". The Times of India. 23 May 2020. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 13 September 2025.
  43. ↑ "Central Banking in Uncertain Times: The Indian Experience - Shaktikanta Das". Reserve Bank of India . Retrieved 13 September 2025.
  44. 1 2 3 "Governor of the year: Shaktikanta Das - Central Banking". www.centralbanking.com. 15 March 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  45. ↑ "Scale Based Regulation (SBR): A Revised Regulatory Framework for NBFCs". Reserve Bank of India . Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  46. 1 2 "Top 10 policy moves that defined Shaktikanta Das' term as RBI Governor - CNBC TV18". CNBCTV18. 9 December 2024. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  47. ↑ "UPI's share in India's digital payments surged to 83%: RBI report". ddnews.gov.in. Archived from the original on 23 April 2025. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  48. ↑ Service, Express News (5 September 2023). "UPI has become backbone of digital payment: RBI Governor". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  49. ↑ Kalra, Jaspreet (25 June 2024). "India digital currency transactions slump after reaching initial c.bank target, sources say". Reuters. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  50. ↑ "RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das bags 'Central Banker of the Year 2020, Asia-Pacific' award". @businessline. 4 February 2020. Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  51. ↑ "RBI chief Shaktikanta Das honoured with Governor of the Year award | Today News". mint. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  52. ↑ Kumari, Anjali (27 August 2024). "Shaktikanta Das receives A+ grade in the central bank report cards 2024". www.business-standard.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  53. ↑ "RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das ranked top central banker for second year in a row". ddnews.gov.in. Archived from the original on 17 April 2025. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  54. ↑ Patel, Shivam (28 October 2024). "Shaktikanta Das Earns A+ in Central Bank Report Card 2024". adda247. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  55. ↑ Bhat, Swati; Singh, Sarita Chaganti (24 February 2025). "Naming ex-India central bank chief Das as key aide highlights Modi's economic focus". Reuters. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
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