Udaipur, December 10, 2024 - Revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra has been appointed as the new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, the Centre's Cabinet Committee announced yesterday. He will replace  the outgoing RBI governor Shaktikanta Das who took over the RBI reigns in 2018 after the abrupt resignation of Urjit Patel.

Malhotra, who will be the 26th governor of the Central Bank, is a 1990 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS Officer. He an engineering graduate in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and has done his Master’s in Public Policy from Princeton University, USA.

The new RBI governor’s career graph spans over 33 years during which he has worked in various sectors including information technology, power, finance, taxation and mines. He served as Revenue Secretary since October 2022 and previously was Secretary in the Financial Services department under the Finance Ministry. Malhotra has also been on the RBI board in the past as representative of the Financial Services department.

The RBI governor’s tenure is for three years but can be extended for another two years. Das was granted an extension after completing three-year terms in office. His last day in office will be today, December 10. Malhotra will take over from tomorrow.

The new governor will take over power at a time when the Central Bank is under pressure owing to a challenging economic scenario. With the GDP growth slowing to 5.4% in the July-September quarter, there have been calls for RBI to reduce interest rates. All eyes will be on Sanjay Malhotra as how he tackles challenges like inflation and slowing economic growth.