Shaktikanta Das: Career administrator, gold medalist and more - Key facts about one of RBI's longest-serving Governors

Shaktikanta Das Latest News: Will Narendra Modi government give yet another extension to RBI Governor Shaktikantas Das? Or will the term of one of the longest-serving Governor that the Central Bank has seen in the last nine decades end tomorrow? There is no official statement on this so far and Das has also not given any hint whatsoever. On Friday, addressing media after the key MPC meet, the RBI governor said that he ‘will not give any headline’. When asked repeatedly about the extension, Das simply said, ‘I think it is better we stick to monetary policy.’ As the suspense continues, here are key facts on this career administrator:

• Born on February 26, 1957, in Odisha, Shaktikanta Das completed his schooling in Bhubaneswar. He attended the prestigious St. Stephen’s College at Delhi University, where he earned both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in History. Additionally, he pursued a postgraduate course in Public Administration from the University of Birmingham in the UK.


• After clearing the UPSC examination, Das joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1980 and was assigned to the Tamil Nadu cadre. Beginning his career as District Magistrate in Kanchipuram and Dindigul, Shaktikanta Das later worked as Secretary of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Revenue.


• Before moving to the central government, Shaktikanta Das held several key positions in the Tamil Nadu state government, including Principal Secretary of Industries and Commissioner of Commercial Taxes. Subsequently, he transitioned to the central government, where he served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.


• During his tenure at the Finance Ministry, Shaktikanta Das was part of the team responsible for preparing eight Union Budgets. Prior to his appointment as RBI Governor, he was a Member of the 15th Finance Commission. He also served as India’s G20 Sherpa at the Hamburg and Buenos Aires summits and was part of the team that negotiated the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) emergency bailout package for India in 1991.


• While serving in the Finance Ministry, Das played a pivotal role in the introduction of the 2016 demonetisation and the landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST). Appointed as the Economic Affairs Secretary in May 2017, he was credited with the implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and the recapitalisation and merger of public sector banks (PSBs). Shaktikanta Das has been named central banker of the year twice in a row. Das got an 'A+' rating for the second consecutive year in Global Finance Central Banker Report Cards 2024.