“The Relentless Warrior”- Indrajit Coomaraswamy, the Central Bank Governor
Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy retired as Governor of the Central Bank (CB) on Friday (December 20). He accepted the job during a momentous time for the bank. 
With his PhD in Economics, he was living in Sri Lanka post retirement from his position at the Commonwealth Secretariat enjoying his lectures and invited to the boards of private sector conglomerates like John Keells, Tokyo Cement etc.
Given that Sri Lanka’s liabilities were grossly understated by the former administration, Indrajit quickly moved without any fanfare to correct the balance sheet to resurrect Sri Lanka’s economy and the bank’s image, integrity and independence with his characteristic watchword of teamwork, unity and efficacy.
Indrajit wakes each working day as dawn breaks at 4.30 am, performs official and urgent work from 5.00 – 6.30 am, exercises from 6.30-7.00 am, but leaves like clockwork for work at 7.3.0 am leading by example only to return home at 6.30 pm.
Behind the scenes he has been responsible for many achievements, among which are:
- Monetary Board Reform Act ( to maintain, sustain and continue the CB independence from the State).
- Much publicised but politicised Forensic Audits (including the Bond Scams etc).
- Critical digitalisation, automation, computerisation of all sectors of the CB for best practices.
- Successful negotiation and approval of all lending and aid agencies including the IMF etc.
- Getting the country out of the black listing as currency manipulators.
- Better supervision and reform of the finance companies.
- Reform of the human resources of the bank.
- Appointments based on merit only to the various Advisory Committees of the bank and securing the best expertise on board J- EPF, Platform Trading and Currency Exchange Reforms etc.
Indrajit left an indelible mark at the bank in his brief spell devoid of any political patronage.
“When the Great Scorer comes to write against your name; it does not matter whether you won or lost, but how you played the Game.”
Mithila Gunaratna
New Rochelle, NY