The ChangeMakers Magazine, Council for International Relations & Diplomacy, Editorial Desk.
The Government of India has appointed veteran diplomat Syed Akbaruddin as a part-time, Non-Official Director on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India, for a term of four years effective August 24, 2026. The appointment was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on a proposal from the Department of Financial Services, and inducted under Section 8(1)(c) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
Akbaruddin, a former Indian Foreign Service officer, is best known for his tenure as India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, where he represented the country’s positions on matters ranging from counter-terrorism to multilateral reform. His induction to the RBI’s apex decision-making body is being read as an attempt to widen the Board’s expertise beyond conventional banking and finance, bringing in international diplomacy, public policy, and global governance experience at a time when developments in the world economy are increasingly shaping India’s financial system.
He joins two other new appointees — Annie George Mathew, former Special Secretary for Expenditure in the Finance Ministry, and Janmejaya Kumar Sinha, Chairman of BCG India — while industrialist Anand Mahindra was reappointed to the Board. With these additions, the RBI Central Board’s active strength rises from 11 to 14 members.
The RBI’s Central Board is constitutionally tasked with the general superintendence and direction of the affairs of the central bank, comprising both official and non-official directors under the RBI Act, 1934. The latest appointments come amid a broader push by the government to diversify the Board’s composition across financial policy, economics, administration, and international affairs — a signal, observers say, of the growing intersection between India’s monetary policy establishment and its foreign policy and diplomatic apparatus.
