Budget 2024: A brief profile of Financial Services Secy Vivek Joshi

Joshi said the government is holding internal discussions on the draft of the Insurance Bill, which includes composite licensing

The newest face in the highest echelons of the finance ministry, Vivek Joshi took charge as the Secretary of the Department of Financial Services on November 1, 2022 to fill the vacancy created by Sanjay Malhotra's move to the Department of Revenue following Tarun Bajaj's retirement.

As the government's top bureaucrat when it comes to the key financial services sectors – including banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, and the National Pension System – Joshi will provide crucial inputs in the making of the interim budget for 2024-25.

Joshi is also a member on the boards of the Reserve Bank of India and the country's biggest bank, State Bank of India.

Before taking charge as the financial services secretary, Joshi was the registrar general and census commissioner in the Ministry of Home Affairs for four years and also served as chief executive officer of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority. Joshi, however, is well versed with the inner workings of North Block, having been a joint secretary in the Department of Expenditure from November 2014 to April 2017 where he advised in the formulation of the public procurement policy and was involved in the appraisal of publicly funded projects and schemes in key sectors such as road and highways, urban development, space, atomic energy, and railways.

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A 1989-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, Joshi has a PhD and MA in International Economics from the Geneva Graduate Institute. Before that, he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, where he was also part of the table tennis team.