Sudha Balakrishnan have been appointed as the first Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on May 15. She was executive of National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) before joining new post.
This is the biggest organizational change, after Urjit Patel took over as RBI Governor in September 2016.
Chartered accountant by profession, Sudha Balakrishnan as recently was Vice Chairperson of India’s first and largest depository NSDL. She will be the 12th executive director at RBI, and will serve a three-year term.
Reserve Bank of India had been looking for CFO since May 2017 when they first advertised for the job. Initially a foreign bank executive was elected for the post, but refused to join due to differences in remuneration.
In October 2017, the RBI again advertised for CFO position and after the long process selected Sudha Balakrishnan.
Balakrishnan will be in charge of the central bank’s balance sheet and she will have to ensure accountability policies and procedures compliance rules. She will oversee the government and bank account department, which processes transactions like payments and revenue collections such as taxes.
It includes dividend payment by the central bank to the government
In August 2017, the RBI paid Rs 30,659 crore as dividend for the financial year ending June 2016-17, which was less than Rs 65,876 crore paid in 2015-16.
Hard work was done to manage the high fiscal deficit; the central government had demanded an additional dividend of Rs 10,000 crore in March.
The new CFO will be responsible for the communication plus accurate and timely reporting of the financial performance of the central bank and oversee its budgetary procedures.
