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Sanjay Malhotra appointed as new RBI Governor after Shaktikanta Das

Sanjay Malhotra will now be heading the Reserve Bank of India.

December 10, 2024 | Pranav Garg

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On December 9th, the Centre announced that Mr Sanjay Malhotra will take over as the 26th Governor of RBI, replacing the incumbent Mr Shaktikanta Das, who has been in office since 2018. This announcement comes a day before Mr Das’s term ends on 10th December 2024. Mr Malhotra will be taking over the office from 11th December 2024 (Wednesday).

About the Next RBI Governor

Sanjay Malhotra is an IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre of the 1990 batch. He holds a degree in computer science engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Princeton University, USA. He has been serving as the Revenue Secretary at the Department of Revenue since the year 2022. He has held other key positions like the Chairman and Managing Director of REC Limited, the Secretary in the Department of Financial Services, and also the Corporate Affairs Secretary since the year 2023. 

About the Outgoing Governor

Mr Shaktikanta Das was ushered into the office in December 2018 for a term of three years, which was later extended in the year 2021. He is the longest-serving Governor of RBI after Benegal Rama Rau who served during the 1950s. He steered the Indian economy through some major crises like the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the Israel-Hamas war. The incumbent Governor managed to keep the country’s growth rate over 7% during the last 4 years of his term. 

RBI and the Indian Business Sector

The Reserve Bank of India is the central bank of the country that forms the monetary policy and regulates the entire activities of the banking sector. It keeps a check on the working of the banks to make sure that all compliance requirements are met, and that the banks are carrying out their lending activities in an orderly fashion. 

It is responsible for maintaining economic stability by controlling inflation and deflation through tools like bank rate, repo rates, open market operations and other qualitative measures. This affects the lending ability of the banks, determining whom to provide loans and at what rates, thus impacting businesses. 

It also plays a role in international trade as it is the custodian of foreign exchange. All forex transactions are routed through the RBI. To know more about RBI, check out their official website.