The central government has appointed former finance secretary Rajiv Kumar to head the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). The government body is responsible for filling various top posts in public sector undertakings.
Kumar is a 1984 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, who retired as finance secretary in February this year. Kumar will succeed Kapil Dev Tripathi, who has been recently appointed as the Secretary to president Ram Nath Kovind.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Kumar's appointment as the PESB chairperson for a period of three years, said a personnel ministry order.
During his previous tenures at ministry of finance and ministry of personnel Kumar has been credited with bringing in key reforms in banking and bureaucracy. Kumar took over as the secretary, Department of Financial Services in September 2017 when most of the public sector banks including the State Bank of India were in losses.
He was designated as the finance secretary in July 2019 by the government. He was instrumental in merging 10 public sector banks into four while 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 last year.
Kumar also played a key role in bringing in a 360 degree appraisal system for promotion and empanelment of senior bureaucrats during his stint in the personnel ministry.
