RBI appoints Sudha Balakrishnan as its first CFO: Report

National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) executive Sudha Balakrishnan has been appointed the first chief financial officer (CFO) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) effective May 15, according to a news report.

This is the biggest organisational change since Urjit Patel took over as RBI Governor in September 2016.

Balakrishnan, a chartered accountant, was until recently a vice-president at the NSDL, India’s first and largest depository. She will be the 12th executive director at RBI, and will serve a three-year term.

RBI has been on the look out for a CFO since May 2017 when it first advertised for the post. A foreign bank executive was reportedly selected for the post, but declined to join due to differences in remuneration.

In October 2017, RBI again advertised for the CFO's position and after a lengthy process selected Balakrishnan.

The report claimed that the CFO would be eligible for a monthly salary of Rs 2 lakh with housing or Rs 4 lakh per month without housing and an annual increase of 3 to 5 percent of gross cost to company.

Moneycontrol couldn't independently verify the report, but has sent an email to RBI seeking confirmation.

Sudha Balakrishnan's role

Balakrishnan will be in-charge of the central bank’s balance sheet and will have to ensure accounting policies and procedures comply with regulations.

She will oversee the government and bank account department, which processes transactions like payments and revenue collections such as taxes.

This includes dividend payment by the central bank to the government.

In August 2017, RBI paid Rs 30,659 crore as dividend for the financial year ended June 2016-17, which was way lower than the Rs 65,876 crore it paid in 2015-16.

Hard pressed to manage the high fiscal deficit, the central government had sought additional dividend of Rs 10,000 crore in March.

As per the recruitment notice, the new CFO will be responsible for communicating an accurate and timely reporting of the central bank’s financial performance and oversee its budgetary processes.