Venkitaramanan was a member of the
Indian Administrative Service. He was posted with the Government of India and with the state of
Tamilnadu at various times. He also served the Government of
Karnataka as adviser. In the late 1960s, he served as the
private secretary to Indian politician and food minister,
Chidambaram Subramaniam, while ushering in
India's green revolution. Venkitaramanan served as Finance Secretary in the
Ministry of Finance with the
Government of India for four years from 1985 to 1989, under the
Rajiv Gandhi government. At the time of his appointment as RBI Governor, India was in the midst of a
balance of payments crisis, with fast-depleting foreign exchange reserves. His actions as the Governor were noted to have contributed to India's tiding over the crisis. Specifically, during this time, the country adopted the
International Monetary Fund's stabilization program and started on its
economic liberalization program, including
devaluation of the
Indian rupee. During this time, he partnered with the then finance minister,
Manmohan Singh, in implementing some of the reforms and also engaged with international multilateral agencies and other central banks towards raising foreign exchange for the country. He was also the RBI Governor during
1992 Indian stock market scam also sometimes referred to as the
Harshad Mehta scam, after the principal accused. The incident was called a failure of the country's securities markets. After retirement, Venkitaramanan served as the Chairman of Ashok Leyland Investment Services Ltd., New Tirupur Area Development Corporation Ltd. and Ashok Leyland Finance Ltd. He also served in the boards of Reliance Industries Limited, SPIC, Piramal Healthcare Ltd, Tamil Nadu Water Investment Co. Ltd and Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd. == Personal life ==