New Delhi, Feb 22: Former Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das was on Saturday appointed the second Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
P K Mishra, a retired IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, is currently serving as the Principal Secretary to the prime minister.
According to an official order, the tenure of Das, a retired IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, will be “co-terminus” with the term of the prime minister or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
This is the first time that two persons will simultaneously serve as principal secretaries to the prime minister. Both Mishra and Das are from Odisha.
“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri Shaktikanta Das, IAS (Retired), as Principal Secretary-2 to Prime Minister with effect from the date he assumes the office. His appointment will be co-terminus with the term of the Prime Minister or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” the order said.
Sixty-eight-year old Das has been a career civil servant with over 44 years of distinguished service, primarily in the areas of finance, taxation, investment and infrastructure.
He was the central government’s revenue secretary. During his tenure as economic affairs secretary in 2016, the Modi government had announced the demonetisation.
Das played a key role when multiple indirect taxes were merged into one GST, which came into effect on July 1, 2017. Post-retirement, he was appointed as a member of the 15th Finance Commission and G20 Sherpa of India.
Das became the 25th governor of the RBI in 2018 after Urjit Patel resigned.
Initially appointed for three years, his tenure was extended for a further period of three years in 2021. He demitted office in December 2024 when Sanjay Malhotra was appointed as RBI governor.
Das was the second longest serving governor of the RBI in its 90-year history after Benegal Rama Rau, who had a seven-and-a-half-year tenure in the 1950s.
Das, a 1980-batch IAS officer, holds a Master’s degree in history from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College and a postgraduate degree in public administration from the University of Birmingham.
As the RBI governor, he focused on maintaining financial stability, curbing inflation and promoting economic growth. He took several measures to address the liquidity crunch in the non-banking financial sector and took steps to strengthen the regulatory framework for banks and non-banking financial companies.
Das is credited with navigating the RBI’s economic policies through the Covid pandemic. As a key economic policymaker, he faced challenging times in managing the disruptions caused by the lockdown. He chose to cut the policy repo rate to a historic low of 4 per cent, continuing with the low-interest rate regime for almost two years to help the economy hit badly by the lockdown.
During his tenure, the RBI handed over the highest-ever dividend of Rs 2.11 lakh crore to the Centre for 2023-24.
He was also conferred with the ‘Central Bank Governor of the Year’ award by Central Banking, UK.
Das had also served as India’s Alternate Governor in the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), New Development Bank (NDB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
He represented India in several international fora like the IMF, G20, BRICS and SAARC.
Mishra, who was Union agriculture secretary, has been serving as Principal Secretary to the prime minister since September 2019. Prior to his current assignment, he had served as additional principal secretary to PM Modi during his first term. (PT)
