Blitz Bureau
MUMBAI: Addressing his maiden press conference, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra on December 11 emphasised on the need to remain “alert and agile” to face “challenges.”
Malhotra’s remarks came on a day when he took charge as the head of the central bank, succeeding Shaktikanta Das, whose term ended a day ago after a six years in the job, the second half of which was an extension.
Malhotra, the 26th Governor of RBI, said, “As we have to be conscious of the fact that we do maintain continuity and stability, we cannot be stuck to it. We have to be alert and agile to meet the challenges.” Further, the ex-Revenue Secretary stressed the RBI will continue to interact with all segments, including financial regulators, states and the Centre. “We do not have monopoly of all the knowledge,” Malhotra stated, adding that the central bank will make extensive use of technology for financial inclusion.
A 1990-batch bureaucrat of the Rajasthan cadre, Malhotra has served as an officer in various sectors, including power, finance and taxation, information technology, and mines, etc.
An engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur, the new RBI Governor has also been the CMD of the state-run Rural Electrification Corporation Limited. Malhotra also served as the Secretary of the Department of Financial Services under the Finance Ministry.