INTELLIGENCE · PERSON DOSSIER
UPDATED 2026-08-13Sanjay Malhotra
Policy & Regulation
Reserve Bank of India · India
Identity & Ownership
Current role
Governor, Reserve Bank of India
The Reserve Bank records that he "took over charge as the 26th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India for a period of three years effective December 11, 2024".
Born
14 February 1968
Born in Bikaner, Rajasthan. His father served as an officer in the Border Security Force.
Nationality
Indian
A serving officer of the Indian Administrative Service, appointed to the RBI by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
Based
Mumbai, India
The Reserve Bank's central office, where the Governor sits, is in Mumbai; he chaired the first meeting of the Payments Regulatory Board there on 5 January 2026.
Civil service
Indian Administrative Service, 1990 batch, Rajasthan cadre
The RBI's own record of him opens: "an Indian Administrative Service Officer of 1990 Batch Rajasthan Cadre".
Education
IIT Kanpur (BTech); Princeton University (Master of Public Policy)
Schooled at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bikaner. He read computer science at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur before taking a master's in public policy at Princeton, where he returned to speak as Governor in April 2026.
Term
Three years from 11 December 2024
"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved his name. He has been appointed to the post for a period of three years starting from the 11th of this month." The term runs to December 2027.
Predecessor
Shaktikanta Das, 25th Governor
Das served from 12 December 2018 to 10 December 2024, a little over six years.
Ex-officio chairmanships
Monetary Policy Committee; Payments Regulatory Board
He chairs the six-member MPC, which he has led since its 53rd meeting in February 2025, and chaired the inaugural Payments Regulatory Board on 5 January 2026.
Signature on the currency
₹50 notes bearing his signature reported as forthcoming in February 2025
Business Today, 12 February 2025. The Governor's signature appears on Reserve Bank notes as a matter of course; this dossier does not have a Reserve Bank confirmation of the issue date.
Background
Over 33 years in the Indian Administrative Service before the RBI
Official reporting of his appointment described a career "span: over 33 years" with work across power, finance, taxation, information technology and mining.
Private Secretary to a Union Minister of State, 2000–2003
He served the Minister of State for Space and the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Mines and minerals, information and broadcasting, finance, energy and commercial taxation, 2003–2020
Seventeen years across state departments in his home cadre, including the commercial taxation brief that fed his later tax work at the centre.
Project coordinator, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
Held with the rank of Deputy Secretary during his Rajasthan-cadre years.
Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power, and Chairman and Managing Director of REC Limited, 2020
REC Limited, formerly the Rural Electrification Corporation, is a state-owned infrastructure finance company lending to the power sector.
Secretary, Department of Financial Services, 1 February 2022 – 30 November 2022
The government's banking and insurance policy desk. He took the Life Insurance Corporation to its initial public offering during those ten months and sat on the Reserve Bank's central board ex officio. He succeeded Debasish Panda and was succeeded by Vivek Joshi.
Revenue Secretary of India, 1 December 2022 – 11 December 2024
Head of the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance, covering both direct and indirect taxation. He succeeded Tarun Bajaj and was succeeded by Arvind Shrivastava. He moved from this post straight to the Governorship.
Central to direct and indirect tax policy as Revenue Secretary
Official reporting of his RBI appointment cited his "extensive experience in finance and taxation at the state as well as the central government" and an instrumental role in formulating tax policy on both sides of the ledger. He is credited with implementing the new income tax regime.
Cast in the Indian press as a consensus-builder
The Hindu BusinessLine headlined its profile on appointment "Princeton-educated consensus builder Sanjay Malhotra is new RBI Governor".
Described as a "calm influence"
The Indian Express used the phrase in its 9 December 2024 report of his selection.
The Reserve Bank's 90th anniversary, 1 April 2025
He gave the welcome address at the RBI@90 commemoration in Mumbai in his fourth month in office.