Telecom Secy K Rajaraman named IFSCA Chairman, may take charge immediately

The government has appointed Telecom Secretary K Rajaraman as the next Chairperson of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).

A 1989 batch Indian Administrative Service officer, Rajaraman has been appointed for a period of three years, notification brought out by the Finance Ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs said over the weekend.

Rajaraman is expected to take charge with immediate effect. He will succeed the first ever IFSCA Chairperson Injeti Srinivas who has led the authority since July 9, 2020.

The IFSCA was set up in April 2020 under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019, at the Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) city in Gandhinagar. It is currently being heavily pushed by the government as a global financial services hub.

The unified authority oversees the development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). Srinivas has said GIFT city’s banking asset size has increased to $36 billion.

At present, the GIFT IFSC is the maiden international financial services centre in India. Prior to the establishment of IFSCA, RBI, Sebi, PFRDA and Irdai regulated the business in IFSC.

Meanwhile, Rajaraman had assumed charge as the Telecom Secretary in October 2021.

Under him, the DoT successfully conducted first-ever fifth generation or 5G auction, with the government fetching more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

It had also proposed the new Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, and brought a draft framework for public consultation. The Department also extended the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom and networking products, and included design-led manufacturing under the incentive program.

Prior to this, Rajaraman had served as the additional secretary (Investments & Infrastructure) in the DEA.

He had also served as a joint secretary in the department of expenditure and held key positions in the Tamil Nadu government, including the managing director of Chennai Metro Railway.