Reserve Bank of India appoints Sudha Balakrishnan as its first CFO

The appointment will initially be for a of three-year period, which could be extended further, subject to annual review

Sudha Balakrishnan, until recently the vice-president of National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL), has been appointed the first chief financial officer (CFO) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with effect from May 15, according to an Economic Times report.

Balakrishnan, a chartered accountant, will be the 12th executive director of the RBI.

A recruitment notice issued by the RBI in October, 2017 said that the new CFO, in one of his/her key roles will be in charge of the Department of Government and Bank Accounts and will responsible for formulating the accounting policy of the Bank, maintaining the internal accounts and reporting of financial results through various statements of accounts, Balance Sheet and Profit & loss Account.

Balakrishnan will also be in charge of formulating the policy related to provident fund (PF) and the PF interest rates under the corporate strategy function.

So far, RBI's balance sheet and other financial functions were managed internally and there was no dedicated officer to do the job. RBI had first released an advertisement in May 2017 and again in October 2017 and Balakrishnan was selected after a long process.

It was during Raghuram Rajan's tenure as RBI governor that the idea of a dedicated officer for managing RBI's internal financial functions was mooted. After Urjit Patel took over as the governor of RBI in September 2016, it was decided to have a position of a CFO equal to the rank of an executive director.

Balakrishnan stands eligible for a cost per month of Rs 200,000 with housing and Rs 400,000/ per month without housing.

The appointment will initially be for a three-year period, which could be extended further, subject to an annual review.