Pralhad Giri is Director of the Payment Systems Department at Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal, where he heads the CBDC Division and Innovation Office. Over more than two decades at the central bank he has led national payment infrastructure modernization, including Nepal's electronic cheque clearing programme and the design of MICR cheque and clearing operational standards, and he authored the feasibility study that established the country's regulatory sandbox and innovation hub. He has served as Nepal Rastra Bank's focal officer for UNCDF and IFC financial inclusion and MSME finance initiatives, as Alternative Director on the Alliance for Financial Inclusion's Financial Inclusion Data and Impact Working Group, and as an Executive Committee member of the Global Impact FinTech Forum. His current work centres on central bank digital currency design, open banking, and the security and resilience of AI-enabled payment systems. He holds postgraduate qualifications in economics and finance from Tribhuvan University, an ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, and executive credentials in fintech and regulatory innovation from Cambridge Judge Business School and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.