D. R. Mehta (born 25 June 1937) is a former chairman of

Securities and Exchange Board of India The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the Regulatory agency, regulatory body for securities and commodity market in India under the administrative domain of Ministry of Finance (India), Ministry of Finance within the Government ...

(SEBI). Mehta is a recipient of

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

, one of the highest Indian civilian awards, for his contribution to social causes.

Early life

Mehta was born at

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. He is a graduate of arts and law from

Rajasthan University The University of Rajasthan, informally known as Rajasthan University (RU, ISO: Rājasthān Viśvavidyālaya), is a public state university located in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. It was founded in 1947 by an Act of the State Legislative Assembly ...

. He also studied at

Royal Institute of Public Administration Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

, London, UK and the

MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (branded as MIT Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree progra ...

Career

D. R. Mehta joined the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian ...

in 1961 and held numerous positions initially in the

Government of Rajasthan The Government of Rajasthan is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Rajasthan and its districts of Rajasthan, 41 districts. It consists of an executive branch, led by the governor of Rajasthan, as well as judiciary and legis ...

and later in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. Mehta served as chairman of

SEBI The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulatory body for securities and commodity market in India under the administrative domain of Ministry of Finance within the Government of India. It was established on 12 April 1988 a ...

, the regulator of the capital markets in India, from 1995 to 2002. Mehta, unlike most bureaucrats, orchestrated significant transformations in the India's capital markets within a brief period by introducing a slew of economic reforms; eventually making the Indian capital market one of the most modern and efficient ones in the world, attracting both local and foreign investors. From 1992 to 1995 Mehta served as the deputy governor of the

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

(RBI) which is the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

of India. Still earlier, from 1991 to 1992 he was the director general of Foreign Trade, Government of India, and Ministry of Commerce. Prior to this, from 1989 to 1991, Mehta was additional secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance, dealing with banking. From 1974 to 1989, except for five years when he was serving the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

of India, Mehta worked for the state government of Rajasthan in various senior positions as the secretary to the government, in the departments of Industries, Mines, and Special Programs of the Poor etc. During this period he was the secretary to the

Chief Minister of Rajasthan The chief minister of Rajasthan is the head of government, chief executive of the Indian state of Rajasthan. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the Governors of states of India, governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto' ...

Social work

D. R. Mehta has been active in social field throughout his life. He set up Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samit (BMVSS) in

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

in 1975 and is now its full-time honorary volunteer. Under his leadership, BMVSS emerged as the largest organization for the handicapped in the world, providing artificial limbs/

calipers Calipers or callipers are an instrument used to measure the linear dimensions of an object or hole; namely, the length, width, thickness, diameter or depth of an object or hole. The word "caliper" comes from a corrupt form of caliber. Many ty ...

and other aids and appliances for free. More than 1 million people have been its beneficiaries so far. Mehta's focus on combining social service with science led to a memorandum of understanding between

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and BMVSS, resulting in the development of a new

knee joint In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the ...

called the Jaipur Knee. It was hailed by the ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine as one of the 50 best inventions of 2009. Mehta is also a well-known animal activist. He has started and has been associated with some animal homes, and has also published literature on animal welfare.

Awards and honours

D. R. Mehta has been honoured at national and international levels. In 2008 he was conferred with the

by the President of India. Mehta received the TECH Museum Award for Innovation and Its Use for Humanity in Silicon Valley in November 2007. He is also a recipient of the Indian for Collective Action Award, Diwali Behan Award (conferred by the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

), the CNBC Award for Social Enterprise, Satpal Mittal Award, etc. Mehta is also a director on the Europe / Asia Board of the U.S.-based

. D R Mehta was also a recipient of the

Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award (English: Rajiv Gandhi National Communal Harmony Award) is an Indian award given for outstanding contribution towards promotion of communal harmony, national integration and peace. The award was instituted ...

in 2012. The award, which carries a citation and a cash award of Rs five

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

, has been given for his outstanding contribution towards promotion of communal harmony, peace and goodwill. In 2013 he was conferred with the Rajasthan Ratna by the Rajasthan Government.

References

External links

* http://www.rediff.com/money/1999/mar/17nandy.htm * http://thinkchangeindia.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/mit-meets-cutting-edge-grassroots-technology/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, D. R. Indian civil servants 1937 births Living people Rajasthani people Indian bankers University of Rajasthan alumni MIT Sloan School of Management alumni People from Jodhpur Securities and Exchange Board of India Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in social work 20th-century Indian businesspeople Businesspeople from Rajasthan