Shaktikanta Das is a 1980-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer (File)
New Delhi:
Shaktikanta Das, who will demit workplace because the Governor of the Reserve Financial institution of India on Tuesday, was the important thing man behind the planning and execution of the demonetisation drive and rollout of the landmark Items and Providers Tax (GST). On the RBI, he steered India’s financial coverage response in the course of the difficult interval of the pandemic.
Shaktikanta Das, 67, a profession bureaucrat, was put into the excessive job of the RBI Governor when Urjit Patel abruptly resigned in December 2018. His second three-year time period involves an finish on December 10 and will likely be changed by Sanjay Malhotra, Income Secretary within the Union Ministry of Finance.
A 1980-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, Shaktikanta Das, who holds a grasp’s diploma in historical past from Delhi’s St Stephen’s Faculty and a postgraduate diploma in public administration from the College of Birmingham, was financial affairs secretary when the federal government all of a sudden scrapped high-value foreign money notes in November 2016.
Whereas the federal government justified the transfer as aiming at curbing black cash, corruption, and terrorism financing, many criticized it for the hardship it delivered to the widespread man. Shaktikanta Das, nevertheless, defended the choice and steered the normalisation drive over the course of the subsequent few weeks.
He additionally performed a key position when a number of oblique taxes have been merged into one GST, which got here into impact on July 1, 2017. Shaktikanta Das was instrumental in coordinating with the states to make sure the profitable implementation of the GST.
Because the RBI Governor, he centered on sustaining monetary stability, curbing inflation and selling financial progress. Whereas he took a number of measures to deal with the liquidity crunch within the non-banking monetary sector and took steps to strengthen the regulatory framework for banks and non-banking monetary firms, the spotlight of his stint was the central financial institution’s response to coping with the financial impression of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The RBI supplied numerous regulatory relaxations to help the financial system. Underneath him, the central financial institution held benchmark rates of interest regular for nearly two years in a bid to regulate inflation. He delivered the ultimate financial coverage of his tenure on December 6.
“In the previous few years, we have now traversed one of the crucial tough durations within the historical past of the Indian financial system, and maybe, within the international financial system additionally. It was a interval of relentless turbulence and jolts.
“As a rustic, we are able to derive satisfaction that the Indian financial system has not simply navigated this era of trials efficiently but in addition emerged stronger. As we attempt collectively in the direction of making India a developed financial system, I recall what I had mentioned in my assertion of February 8, 2023, whereby I had quoted Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: ‘…by no means lose your religion within the future of India’,” Shaktikanta Das mentioned whereas unveiling the financial coverage on December 6.
Quickly after taking cost of the Mint Avenue workplace, he supplied confidence to the market shaken by the sudden resignation of Patel amid a tussle between RBI and the federal government over the problem of surplus switch.
He not solely assuaged the considerations of the market however deftly sorted out points associated to surplus switch to the federal government.
Barely a 12 months after Shaktikanta Das took cost because the RBI governor, Covid hit the world. As a key financial policymaker, Shaktikanta Das confronted difficult occasions in managing the disruptions attributable to the lockdown. He selected to chop the coverage repo price to a historic low of 4 per cent, persevering with with the low-interest price regime for nearly two years to assist the financial system hit badly by lockdowns.
With the revival of the financial system hit by COVID-19, the Shaktikanta Das-headed Financial Coverage Committee (MPC) was fast to lift rates of interest beginning Could 2022 to keep away from overheating the financial system and preserve inflation below test.
His deft dealing with of inauspicious financial conditions, checking inflation and boosting progress earned him re-appointment. The federal government prolonged his tenure for an additional three years in 2021.
Shaktikanta Das was instrumental in making certain that financial progress stays over 7 per cent within the final 4 years of his six-year time period.
His governance has at all times been in sync with what the Narendra Modi authorities needed in an RBI chief after the successive stints of Raghuram Rajan and Urjit Patel, which have been marred by fixed conflicts between the RBI and the North Block, the house to the Ministry of Finance.
Not as soon as since he took over did the problem of the RBI autonomy come up in information headlines. Shaktikanta Das has been articulate and approachable to his colleagues and the media, and a consensus man who saved the communication channels alive with the bosses in Delhi.
Earlier this 12 months, the central financial institution handed over the highest-ever dividend of Rs 2.11 lakh crore.
Earlier than becoming a member of the RBI, he spearheaded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2016 demonetisation drive whereas then RBI Governor Urjit Patel took a backseat by way of the entire course of.
The steadiness of the monetary system was a key agenda, Shaktikanta Das saved an in depth watch overheating in some segments in addition to errant gamers and taking pre-emptive motion wherever required.
Shaktikanta Das, a 1980 batch IAS officer, served because the Secretary of the Division of Income and Division of Financial Affairs. Put up-retirement, he was appointed as a Member of the fifteenth Finance Fee and G20 Sherpa of India.
Shaktikanta Das has huge expertise in numerous areas of governance within the final 38 years. He has held essential positions within the central and state governments within the areas of Finance, Taxation, Industries, and Infrastructure, amongst others.
Throughout his lengthy tenure within the Ministry of Finance, he was straight related to the preparation of as many as eight Union Budgets.
Shaktikanta Das is a postgraduate from St Stephen’s Faculty, Delhi College.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)