Ex-Finance Secy Rajiv Kumar appointed Chairman PESB

Kumar, a 1984 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS official, was in July last year designated as the Finance Secretary and retired in February this year. He will succeed the incumbent Kapil Dev Tripathi, a 1980 batch retired Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS official.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the appointment of Kumar as Chairman PESB for a period of three years from the date of assumption of charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier, said a Ministry of Personnel order.

Kumar, who has been among the veterans of power corridors of the North Block, was transferred to the Ministry of Power in a major bureaucratic reshuffle on July 24 last year.

A lover of Indian classical music and an avid trekker, Kumar has over three decades of experience in public policy and administration across various sectors. He has BSc and LLB degrees, along with a masters in public policy and sustainability.

The 60-year old had taken over as the financial services secretary in September 2017 and initiated several reforms in the country's banking sector, to clean up the bad loan mess and to make public sector banks (PSBs) stronger.

Kumar spearheaded the government's larger plan of consolidating a few bigger banks, starting with Bank of Baroda's merger with Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank, making it the third largest PSB in the country. He also initiated a record amount of capital infusion into PSBs to beef up banks' capacity to lend.

Besides all this, Kumar has been a part of the budget-making exercise thrice. He played a key role in taking ahead Prime Minister Modi's plan of financial inclusion, aimed at boosting credit access and job creation, through flagship schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Mudra loan scheme, among others.

He is known to have initiated and implemented the 59-minute loan scheme for the MSME sector. The PESB, under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, is responsible for the selection and placement of chairman, managing director or chairman-cum-managing director, and functional director in public sector enterprises (PSEs) as well as in posts at any other level as may be specified by the government.