New Delhi 29 April 2020:Former finance secretary Rajiv Kumar was appointed as the chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) on 29 April. The appointment of Rajiv Kumar is approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will serve as the PESB chairperson for a period of three years.

Rajiv Kumar is a 1984-batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre. He retired as the finance secretary in February 2020. Previously, he has steered the banking and financial sector through the severest crisis. Kumar took over as the Secretary, Department of Financial Services in September 2017. At the time most of the public sector banks including the State Bank of India were in losses.

Later, the GoI designated him as the finance secretary in July 2019. He was also instrumental in brokering peace between the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that resulted in the smooth transfer of Rs.1.76 lakh crore of the central bank’s surplus to the exchequer in 2019. Also, a massive Rs.3 lakh crore recapitalization of banks was undertaken during his tenure. Before joining the finance ministry, Kumar served as the Establishment Officer (EO) in the Personnel Ministry.