Dr. Rajiv Ranjan is the Executive Director and member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India since May 2022. Prior to this, Dr. Ranjan was serving as Adviser-in-Charge of Monetary Policy Department and Secretary to the MPC for about 2 years. Being a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and earlier Secretary to the MPC, he has been closely associated in framing the monetary policy of the country.

Dr. Ranjan holds Master’s degree in economics from Delhi School of Economics, and a Ph.D. degree in Macroeconomic Modelling from University of Mumbai.

Dr. Ranjan has more than 35 years of experience of working in several key departments of RBI including Monetary Policy Department; Department of Economic Policy and Research; Department of External Investments and Operations; and International Department. He has served as Economic Policy Expert in Central Bank of Oman for three years.

Dr. Ranjan has wide experience of working in the area of macroeconomic policies including monetary policy, fiscal policy, real sector, external sector and international affairs related to the IMF/G20/BIS. He has several policy oriented and research articles to his credit published in domestic and international journals. He has co-authored three books on contemporary economic issues. He has been associated with several high-level committees constituted by the RBI and international organisations from time to time.

Dr. Ranjan has been given the additional responsibility of helming the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL) as Director which is an independent institution set up by the Reserve Bank of India, for conducting research and learning in banking and finance.

Dr. Nirupama Kulkarni is Additional Director (Reseach) at CAFRAL. She is an applied empirical economist and her research interests include corporate finance, banking, household finance, real estate and monetary policy. Her recent work focuses on the role of government policies in the financial and housing market and its implications. Her research looks at how government regulation can stack the odds against private market competition and the implications of government policies aimed at increasing homeownership.

Nirupama has an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from IIT Bombay, an MBA from Stern School of Business, New York University and a Ph.D. in business administration (finance and real estate) from Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. She has been the recipient of the Fisher Center Fellowship at UC Berkeley, Fisher Center Research Grant at UC Berkeley, Vanier Family Foundation Grant at UC Berkeley and was the FWA Clarin S. Schwartz Memorial Scholar and a Glucksman Research Fellow at the Stern School of Business, New York University.

Manas Ranjan Mohanty is the Additional Director at CAFRAL, leading Learning and Development initiatives. A career central banker, he has previously served as Managing Director of BRBNMPL and Chief General Manager of the Department of Currency Management, RBI. His core expertise spans strategy, currency management and printing, banking supervision, financial inclusion and education, agriculture finance, HR, and leadership development ,etc.

He has served on the Boards of SPMCIL and BNPMIPL and is currently on the Boards of a few NBFCs. He has also worked with the State Bank, National Insurance Co. Ltd., and the National Agricultural Research Programme. As MD of BRBNMPL, he championed CSR initiatives in tribal education, animal welfare, women’s health, and heritage conservation. He conceptualized and set up a pioneering Learning & Development Centre for the currency ecosystem at BRBNMPL, Mysuru, and played a key role in establishing the Currency Research and Development Centre at RBI.

Mr. Mohanty has been part of several RBI committees and Technical Advisory Groups. He has been a regular speaker and guest faculty at institutions such as NIBM, MANAGE, SYMBIOSIS, the Bangladesh Bank Training Academy,etc and has addressed national and international forums.

Outside his professional engagements, he is deeply committed to education for underprivileged children, serving as Chairman of Ek-Asha Trust and previously as founding President of Blossoms Education Society. He is passionate about mentoring and coaching of young talents , creative writing, environmental causes, animal protection etc. He  enjoys teaching schoolchildren whenever possible.

Dr. Gautham Udupa is a Senior Research Director at CAFRAL. His research interests include issues related to open economy macro, international trade, and cross-border spillovers. Gautham uses empirical and applied theoretical techniques. His recent paper focuses on the relative importance of multinational firms in generating cross-border spillovers relative to international trade channels. In another working paper, he is evaluating if the presence of frictions to borrowing and savings on households worsens inequality due to lowering of trade barriers.

Gautham completed his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Houston.

C. Sankaranarayanan is the Senior Program Director currently associated with the CAFRAL’s Learning activities. Prior to joining CAFRAL he worked in State Bank for India for more than 35 years and has held a number of very important assignments in the Bank in India and abroad.He had worked as a faculty in State Bank Staff College, Hyderabad, SVP & Regional Head-SBICAPs Chennai, Country Head & CEO-SBI Maldives, CEO SBI Newyork, Director (FDI), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, GOI, New Delhi and General Manager, Circle Audit Office, Chennai. He is a Post Graduate in Economics and a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers.                                            

Sunita joined the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL), Mumbai as Senior Administrative Officer in November, 2021. She superannuated as General Manager from Reserve Bank of India, in January, 2021. She has more than 32 years of experience in working in various departments of the Reserve Bank including DEIO, DGBA, and FED.

She has been previously associated with CAFRAL between 2011-14, while on deputation from RBI as DGM/GM. She was responsible for the overall administration and also worked as a Program Director. Prior to that she was closely associated with core team that setup BCSBI and formulated the Code of Banks Commitment to Customers and Code of Bank’s Commitment to Micro and Small Enterprises. She is MA in English Literature and BSc in Science from University of Rajasthan.