Finance commission member Shaktikanta Das has been appointed RBI governor for a period of three years. As the economic affairs secretary 2015 and 2017, Das spearheaded the government’s demonetisation drive and was instrumental in pushing the Goods and Services Tax reform. Das, who is believed to be close to PM Narendra Modi, replaces Urjit Patel, who resigned on Monday after a prolonged tussle with the government on issues ranging from problems at lenders to utilisation of capital reserves.

Shaktikanta Das (born 26 February 1957) is a retired 1980 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Tamil Nadu cadre. Currently serving as the 25th governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), he was earlier a member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission of India and India's Sherpa to the G20. During his career as an IAS officer, Das served in various capacities for Indian and Tamil Nadu governments, including as Economic Affairs Secretary of India, Revenue Secretary of India, Fertilizers Secretary of India.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das announced his retirement as the Corporate Affairs Secretary on Wednesday. Das has been associated with the Government of India for nearly 37 years. He will be succeeded by Tapan Ray, who will take the additional charges as the new Economic Affairs Secretary.

“It has been a very good experience, especially in the last three years. I was very fortunate to be a part of such key reforms and structural changes that have come about in the Ministry of Finance,” Shaktikanta Das told agencies.