RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das
Shaktikanta Das is the current Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He took office on December 11, 2018, succeeding Urjit Patel who resigned in October 2018. Prior to his appointment as RBI Governor, Das had a long career in government service. He was most recently the Secretary of Department of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and played an important role in implementing various policy measures taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government since 2014.
Das has been credited for ushering in several changes during his tenure as RBI governor including introducing new liquidity support measures for stressed sectors such as real estate; allowing additional banking licenses to cooperative banks and non-bank finance companies; and raising withdrawal limits from ATMs from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 per day with effect from March 13, 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic induced cash crunch. He also introduced reforms aimed at improving credit flow into the economy through refinancing NBFCs (Non Banking Financial Companies) and HFCs (Housing Finance Corporations). Additionally under his leadership RBI successfully launched its own digital payments platform “Unified Payments Interface” which allows customers to transfer money instantly across different banks using their mobile phones while eliminating paperwork normally associated with inter bank transfers.
Under Das’ guidance , RBI has cut interest rates repeatedly over 2019 & 2020 thus providing relief to borrowers especially individuals & small businesses .Das has spoken out strongly against cryptocurrency activities citing security concerns & lack of regulation within this industry .He raised serious questions about cryptocurrencies saying that it could be used for illegal activities like funding terrorism or money laundering .Due to these reasons he announced a ban on all financial institutions within India preventing them from dealing with any cryptocurrency related transactions effective April 6th 2021 .
