Shaktikanta Das appointed new Principal Secretary: What does the post entail?

Who is Shaktikanta Das?

Das joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1980 as an officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre. A history graduate from St. Stephen’s College from the University of Delhi, he was the Fertilisers Secretary in 2014.

Soon after, he was made Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance under the BJP-led NDA government which had just then come to power. He was named the Economic Affairs Secretary in August 2015 and remained so till his retirement in May 2017. Das was also a member of the 15th Finance Commission.

He served as the RBI Governor from 2018 to December 2024. An official release upon his appointment stated: “During his long tenure in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, he was directly associated with the preparation of as many as 8 Union Budgets. Shri Das has 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 has represented India in international fora like the IMF, G20, BRICS, SAARC, etc.”

As The Indian Express earlier reported, “During this period, the RBI weathered various domestic as well as exogenous shocks including the collapse of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) and its impact on other non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), once in a lifetime Covid-19 pandemic and the effect of Russia-Ukraine war on inflation.”

Further, he oversaw the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes from circulation. Das also focused on making Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and RuPay, the card payments network of the country, global. However, prolonged high food inflation remained a major challenge in the last six years.

What is the Principal Secretary’s post?

The Principal Secretary is the administrative head of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and is considered the most important aide to the PM. Currently, Pramod Kumar Mishra, a retired IAS officer of the 1972 batch, is the Principal Secretary. Das will be Principal Secretary-2.

In general, the PMO also includes the National Security Advisor, Advisor to PM, Additional Secretaries, Joint Secretaries and other senior bureaucrats. The Principal Secretary is tasked with preparing notes on matters to be discussed between the PM and foreign dignitaries, ensuring coordination among various ministries and departments, sharing important orders before the PM, and so on.