The newly appointed Managing Director of I.M.F. is

The answer is A) Kristalina Georgieva. Christine Lagarde left the IMF in September 2019 after being named the next President of the European Central Bank. Georgieva, then CEO of the World Bank, was nominated and approved by the IMF Executive Board, and took over as Managing Director in October 2019. The post follows an informal understanding that the IMF head is European and the World Bank head American, not a legal rule. Georgieva began a second term in October 2024, so she is still in office.

Why the others are wrong:

• B) Christine Lagarde was MD from 2011 to 2019. She was the previous head, not the new one.
• C) Raghuram Rajan was RBI Governor (2013-16) and the IMF's Chief Economist (2003-06). He never headed the Fund.
• D) Surjit Bhalla is an Indian economist and a former member of the PM's Economic Advisory Council. He has no IMF leadership role.

This sits under International Organisations in GS-II, along with the Bretton Woods institutions and the IMF's role in balance-of-payments support. For Mains, the debate over IMF governance reform and quota shares is the natural follow-up.

Trap: aspirants confuse the outgoing head with the new one, or mix up the IMF's MD with the RBI Governor or the IMF's chief economist.