Shaktikanta Das to continue as RBI governor for another three years. Centre clears extension

The Centre has extended RBI governor Shaktikanta Das’ term for another three years. He will now serve till 2024. Das had replaced Urjit Patel on December 12, 2018, as the 25th governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the reappointment beyond 10.12.2021 for three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Das, a 1980 batch IAS officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre, was the economic affairs secretary till May 2017. He took over from Patel after he stepped down abruptly before the end of his tenure.

The pragmatic bureaucrat who has been witness to many a crisis in his career put the core objective of the central bank on the backburner and steered the economy with policy innovations like long-term funding for banks. Under his watch, RBI brought down interest rates to record lows and took a decisive turn from a deficit liquidity stance to a surplus one to ensure that its rate actions were reflected in the markets and that borrowers benefited.

Das, breaking conventional barriers, unleashed liquidity for every segment that needed it — small and medium enterprises or mutual funds.Much of this was possible mainly due to his ability to navigate the bureaucracy that he was once a part of and the political system that he had familiarised himself with over the past four decades.