About Shaktikanta Das
Shaktikanta Das, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, delivered several addresses in April 2026 focused on India’s economic resilience and reform agenda. Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit 2026 and the All India Management Association’s National Leadership Conclave, Das described India’s navigation of recent global crises as akin to a "chakravyuh," where the challenge lies not in entering a crisis but in exiting it without creating new imbalances. He attributed India’s average annual GDP growth of 7.8% between 2021-22 and 2025-26 to targeted fiscal and monetary stimulus that was gradually withdrawn, structural reforms such as the goods and services tax and the insolvency and bankruptcy code, and a policy of strategic self-reliance (Atmanirbharta). Das also highlighted government initiatives including a ₹7,280 crore rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing scheme and a national critical mineral mission, and stated that inflation control benefits the poor by increasing real spending power.
Das rejected the narrative that the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy had caused a growth slowdown, citing 7.1% GDP growth in 2024-25 as evidence. He emphasized that India’s growth is anchored in macroeconomic stability, contained inflation, fiscal consolidation, and a resilient financial system, and said there is "no reform complacency" in the government’s pursuit of its Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. At the AIMA conclave, he received a public service excellence award and remarked that resilience maximization is replacing cost minimization as a global priority.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Shaktikanta Das's recent appearances.
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Shaktikanta Das0:00
Give their views and opinions and suggestions, which will be taken into consideration by the Reserve Bank before arriving at a final decision. The next announcement relates to dealing in rupee interest rate derivative products for small finance banks. At present, small finance banks are permitted to use only interest rate futures for proprietary hedging. It has now been decided to allow small finance banks to use permissible rupee interest derivative products. This will allow further flexibility to small finance banks for hedging their interest rate risk and enhancing their resilience. The next announcement relates to enabling UPI for cash deposit facility. Deposit of cash through cash deposit machines, that is CDMs, is primarily being done through the use of debit cards. Given the experience gained from cardless cash withdrawal using UPI at the ATMs, it is now proposed to facilitate deposit of cash in CDMs, that is in the cash deposit machines, using UPI. This measure will further enhance customer convenience and make currency handling process at banks more efficient. And the next announcement relates to — I have two more announcements and I shall be quick. The next announcement relates to UPI access for prepaid instruments through third-party apps. At present, UPI payments from prepaid payment instruments, that is PPIs, can be made only by using the web or mobile app provided by the PPI issuer itself. It is now proposed to permit the use of third-party UPI apps for making UPI payments from these PPI wallets. That means the PPI wallet holders no longer have to be completely dependent on the PPI issuer, but they can use any other third-party app which is operating under the UPI. This will further enhance customer convenience and boost adoption of digital payments for small value transactions. And the final announcement relates to distribution of central bank digital currency, that is CBDC, the e-rupee, through non-bank payment system operators. The CBDC pilots are currently in operation with increasing number of use cases and participating banks. It is proposed to make CBDC retail accessible to a broader segment of users by enabling non-bank payment system operators to offer CBDC wallets. This will facilitate testing of resiliency of the CBDC platform to handle multi-channel transactions. Let me now conclude, and I would like to state that as we progress towards RBI at 100, the upcoming decade is going to be a transformational journey. The Reserve Bank will continue to focus on preserving financial stability and promoting a system that is robust, resilient, and future-ready. And it will be robust, resilient, and future-ready to support economic growth and price stability. In this endeavor, turning to the present, inflation is on a declining trajectory and GDP growth is buoyant. At this juncture, we should not lower our guard but continue to work towards ensuring that inflation aligns durably and sustainably to the target. Our goal is in sight, and we must remain vigilant. We are inspired by the profound words of Mahatma Gandhi, and I quote: 'One must persevere and have patience. Success is the inevitable result of such effort.' Thank you.
