The central government has appointed Sanjay Malhotra as the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Currently serving as the Secretary in the Department of Revenue, Malhotra will succeed Shaktikanta Das.
According to a notification by the Department of Personnel and Training, Malhotra will assume the role for a three-year term starting December 11, 2024.
Sanjay Malhotra, an IAS officer of the 1990 batch from the Rajasthan cadre, brings a strong academic background to his new role as RBI Governor. He holds an electrical engineering degree from IIT Kanpur and a master’s in public policy from Princeton University.
Throughout his career, Sanjay Malhotra has held prominent positions, including Chairman and Managing Director of REC Limited (a Maharatna company) and Secretary in the Department of Financial Services. In December 2022, he became Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, succeeding Tarun Bajaj.
In April 2023, he was also assigned the additional charge of Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
There was speculation that Shaktikanta Das’ tenure as RBI Governor, ending 10 December, may not be extended for another term. In 2021, the government announced a three-year extension to Das’s tenure, a month before his term came to an end.
During his six-year term as RBI Governor, Das dealt with a slew of challenges, including Covid-19 and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. However, the RBI’s refusal to cut key rates citing inflation came under criticism from the industry and government alike, amid growing calls to address the slowdown in GDP growth in the September quarter at 5.4 per cent.
In the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent for the 11th straight time. Das, while unveiling bi-monthly policy, made it clear that the RBI had been acting as per the flexibility offered by the statutes to the central bank and that its effort is to keep the inflation horse on a tight leash.