Ms. Anjali Goyal is a civil servant (IRAS 1986 batch, Civil Services Exam), retired as Member Finance, Railway Board and ex officio Secretary to Government of India in December 2023.
Ms. Anjali Goyal has been a pioneer in promoting energy efficient, low carbon transport projects. In 2006, based on Nicholas Stern’s famous book ‘The Economics of Climate Change -The Stern Review’ and several other Climate Change literature, she prepared the first official presentation on the impact of climate in India and how India could design, develop and reshape large Transport Infrastructure Projects to be Ultra -Low Carbon. This was personally seen by the then World Bank Director Energy. This led to World Bank requesting her to make a presentation as invitee speaker at World Energy and Transport Forum, Washington 2009. This presentation enabled funding of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor by World Bank as a low carbon project and ultimate financial close for this critical energy efficient transformative project.
She sustained the momentum through a series of publications including “Ultra Low Carbon Mega Rail Projects (in Seminar), ‘A Case for High-Speed Rail in India’ (in The Asian Journal), ‘High Speed Rail in India -The importance of National Policies’ (in Economic and Political Weekly) and ‘Strategies for Making Railways a Sustainable Transport in India’ (in Transportation Sector in India and EU- Problems, Prospects and Opportunities for Development).
Over 37 years of service she has held several key positions in Government of India, giving her wide exposure and experience in public finance, policy and technology. As Executive Director Finance and Budget, Ministry of Railways, she worked on Dedicated Freight Corridor projects including incorporation of DFCCIL and framing the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association of India’s Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited in 2006. She was Government Director on Board of Indian Rail Finance Corporation and oversaw international and national borrowing decisions. She is an expert in Transport Planning, Financing and Capex monitoring & management of large projects. As Adviser (Project Appraisal)/NITI Aayog she has appraised more than 200 schemes and projects of the Government on a wide range of subjects including FAME, Agriculture, Electronics, Ultra Super Critical Power Projects, Hydel Projects etc. She also handled Aadhaar and prepared proof of concept report for using Aadhar in DBT schemes including LPG subsidy. As Divisional Railway Manager Jaipur Division of Indian Railways, besides rail operations she revived old wells and set up water recycling plants in a water scarce state of Rajasthan.
As Principal Executive Director Accounts in Ministry of Railways she set up and implemented the Goods and Services Tax architecture for Railways in a record four months and digitized all financial transactions.
As General Manager of India’s second largest locomotive manufacturing facility, Banaras Locomotive Works she oversaw end to end, the Govt of Mozambique contract with India, for export 7 locomotives to Mozambique Railways. The timely completion attracted a repeat order. As Member Finance, Railway Board, Ms Anjali Goyal spearheaded wide ranging transformation in project management using IT platforms to integrate physical progress and financial flow databases to create unique project monitoring tools. Railways finances turned around after several years under her leadership of the Finance and Accounts of Ministry of Railways. She conducted techno-financial appraisal of several key projects in rolling stock, signaling and mega rail corridors.
