Profile & Experience

Shri M. Nagaraju is an IAS officer from Tripura cadre. After graduating in Economics and post-graduation in Philosophy from the University of Hyderabad, he joined the IAS in 1993.

Over a period of more than 30 years, he had the opportunity to serve at Local, State, National and International level in various capacities.

In the State Government, he served as District Magistrate, Director of Tribal Welfare, Secretary / Principal Secretary of Health, Finance and Industries & Commerce departments and was deeply involved in tribal development work and rehabilitation of surrendered militants.

During the period of 2004–08, he served in the Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs as Director Japan/North America and Director in the World Bank Division.

During this period, he oversaw bilateral economic relations. He commenced feasibility studies for the Delhi–Kolkata Freight Corridor and Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor and was in charge of financing large projects like Delhi Metro, Bangalore Metro and Chennai Metro through JICA. He was also in charge of the India–US Financial and Economic Forum and India–US CEO Forum.

Thereafter, he worked as Advisor to the Executive Director at the World Bank in Washington, DC, till 2012 and contributed actively to the Bank's response to the 2008 financial crisis, food crisis and fuel crisis, as well as the sanctioning of substantial development assistance to India during 2008–12. He was also closely involved in G-20, G-24 and G-11 discussions, articulating India's interests and positions on several issues.

He was a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, for one year in 2012–13.

As Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal, from 30 January 2020, he opened up the coal sector for commercial mining in the country, transforming India from a coal-deficit to a coal-surplus country. He served on the Boards of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, Northern Coalfields, NLCIL and Coal India. He was appointed Secretary, Financial Services, on 19 August 2024.

As Secretary, DFS, he provided transformational leadership across the banking, insurance, pension and financial inclusion ecosystem. Under his stewardship, the Public Sector Banks achieved their highest recorded profitability and significantly improved asset quality. Multiple improvements were made to strengthen and streamline governance and HR management in banking. He served on the Boards of State Bank of India and the Reserve Bank of India.

Major legislative and policy reforms, including the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act 2025, amalgamation of RRBs (One State One RRB), Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act 2025 and the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code Amendment Bill, modernised the banking and insurance framework, strengthened financial stability and improved the ease of doing business.

He led several timely policy interventions to safeguard the economy during periods of uncertainty through the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Exporters, Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, Credit Guarantee Scheme for Microfinance Institutions-2.0 and the formation of the Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool.

On the international front, he led the culmination of negotiations on financial services as part of FTAs with the UK, New Zealand and the EU and increased UPI's international acceptance.