On Tuesday, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of department of financial services (DFS) secretary Rajiv Kumar as the new finance secretary.

Kumar will succeed Subhash Chandra Garg, who was transferred to the power ministry as a secretary following a bureaucratic reshuffle on 24 July.

In India, a finance secretary is the senior-most bureaucrat among the finance ministry's five departments, namely, revenue, expenditure, economic affairs, financial services and department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM).

Kumar had taken over his services as the financial services secretary in September 2017. During his term, he spearheaded the government's plan to consolidate weaker public sector banks to make them stronger (starting with Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank's merger with Bank of Baroda). He also played a key role in Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.

The 57-year old 1984-batch IAS officer from Jharkhand cadre has been a part of the Union Budget making exercise thrice.