Sanjay Malhotra | The new boss at Mint Street

December 9 began as a routine day for North Block mandarins, with questions pertaining to the Finance Ministry to be answered in the Lok Sabha. Mr. Malhotra, who has spent almost all his life in North India, is a computer engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur, with a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Princeton University. “Not a whole lot is known about Mr. Malhotra’s views on current economic issues, so he is a relatively unknown figure from that perspective,” economists at Nomura Securities said. Mr. Malhotra may be a mystery for Mint Street watchers, but having served as the Department of Financial Services Secretary, he has been on the central bank’s board, and is an authority of sorts on banking and financial sector reforms. Mr. Malhotra knows a lot more about the economic terrain than many realise, and in his new innings, where constant communication plays an important role, the world is about to find that out — with or without rate cuts.