List of governors of the Reserve Bank of India
The governor of the Reserve Bank of India is the chief executive officer of India's central bank and the ex-officio chair of its Central Board of Directors. Indian Rupee currency notes, issued by the Reserve Bank of India, bear the governor's signature. Since its establishment in 1935 by the government of India, the RBI has been headed by twenty-five governors. The governor of the Reserve Bank of India is a member of the Strategic Policy Group headed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. It is a crucial wing of the National Security Council.
Governor of the Reserve Bank of India | |
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Appointer | Government of India |
Term length | Three years |
Constituting instrument | Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 |
Inaugural holder | Sir Osborne Smith (1935–1937) |
Formation | 1 April 1935 |
Deputy | Deputy Governors of the Reserve Bank of India |
Salary | ₹ 2,50,000 |
Website | rbi |
The term of office typically runs for three years and can, in some cases, be extended for another two years.
The inaugural officeholder was the British banker Sir Osborne Smith, while Sir C. D. Deshmukh was the first native Indian governor. Holding office for over seven years, Sir Benegal Rama Rau was the longest-serving governor, while Amitav Ghosh's 20-day term is the shortest. The bank's fifteenth governor, Dr Manmohan Singh, later became India's thirteenth prime minister. Shaktikanta Das is the twenty-fifth governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 12 December 2018.
List of governors of the Reserve Bank of India
No. | Officeholder Name | Portrait | Term start | Term end | Term in office | Background | Prior offices | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Osborne Smith | ![]() |
1 April 1935 | 30 June 1937 | 2 years, 90 days | Banker | Managing Governor of the Imperial Bank of India | [1] |
2 | James Braid Taylor | ![]() |
1 July 1937 | 17 February 1943 | 5 years, 231 days | Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer | Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India
Controller of Currency |
[2] |
3 | C. D. Deshmukh | ![]() |
11 August 1943 | 30 June 1949 | 5 years, 323 days | ICS officer | Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India |
|
4 | Benegal Rama Rau | ![]() |
1 July 1949 | 14 January 1957 | 7 years, 197 days | Ambassador of India to the United States
Ambassador of India to Japan Chairman of Bombay Port Trust |
||
5 | K. G. Ambegaonkar | 14 January 1957 | 28 February 1957 | 45 days | Finance Secretary | |||
6 | H. V. R. Iyengar | ![]() |
1 March 1957 | 28 February 1962 | 4 years, 364 days | Chairman of the State Bank of India | ||
7 | P. C. Bhattacharya | 1 March 1962 | 30 June 1967 | 5 years, 121 days | Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer | Chairman of the State Bank of India Secretary in the Ministry of Finance |
||
8 | Lakshmi Kant Jha | 1 July 1967 | 3 May 1970 | 2 years, 306 days | ICS officer | Secretary to the Prime Minister of India | ||
9 | B. N. Adarkar | 4 May 1970 | 15 June 1970 | 42 days | Economist | Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund | ||
10 | Sarukkai Jagannathan | 16 June 1970 | 19 May 1975 | 4 years, 337 days | ICS officer | Executive Director at the World Bank | ||
11 | N. C. Sen Gupta | 19 May 1975 | 19 August 1975 | 92 days | Banking Secretary | |||
12 | K. R. Puri | 20 August 1975 | 2 May 1977 | 1 year, 255 days | Chairman and managing director of the Life Insurance Corporation | |||
13 | M. Narasimham | 3 May 1977 | 30 November 1977 | 211 days | Career Reserve Bank of India officer | Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India | ||
14 | I. G. Patel | ![]() |
1 December 1977 | 15 September 1982 | 4 years, 288 days | Economist | Director of the London School of Economics Deputy Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme |
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15 | Manmohan Singh | ![]() |
16 September 1982 | 14 January 1985 | 2 years, 120 days | Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India |
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16 | Amitav Ghosh | 15 January 1985 | 4 February 1985 | 20 days | Banker | Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India
Chairman of the Allahabad Bank |
||
17 | R. N. Malhotra | 4 February 1985 | 22 December 1990 | 5 years, 321 days | Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer | Finance Secretary
Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund |
||
18 | S. Venkitaramanan | 22 December 1990 | 21 December 1992 | 1 year, 365 days | IAS officer | Finance Secretary | ||
19 | C. Rangarajan | ![]() |
22 December 1992 | 21 November 1997 | 4 years, 334 days | Economist | Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India | |
20 | Bimal Jalan | ![]() |
22 November 1997 | 6 September 2003 | 5 years, 288 days | Finance Secretary
Banking Secretary Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India |
||
21 | Y. Venugopal Reddy | ![]() |
6 September 2003 | 5 September 2008 | 4 years, 365 days | IAS officer | Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund
Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India |
|
22 | D. Subbarao | ![]() |
5 September 2008 | 4 September 2013 | 4 years, 364 days | Finance Secretary
Member-Secretary of the Economic Advisory Council of the prime minister |
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23 | Raghuram Rajan | ![]() |
4 September 2013 | 4 September 2016 | 3 years, 0 days | Economist | Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India | |
24 | Urjit Patel | ![]() |
4 September 2016 | 10 December 2018 | 2 years, 98 days | Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank | ||
25 | Shaktikanta Das | ![]() |
12 December 2018 | Incumbent | 3 years, 133 days | IAS officer | Member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission | [3][4][5] |
References
- Dadabhoy, Bakhtiar K. (2013). Barons of Banking: Glimpses of Indian Banking History. Noida: Random House India. p. 20. ISBN 978-81-8400-476-2.
- Saha, Siddhartha Sankar (2013). Indian Financial Systems and Markets. New Delhi: McGraw-Hill. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-259-00500-8.
- Prasad, Gireesh Chandra; Ghosh, Shayan; Gopakumar, Gopika (11 December 2018). "Shaktikanta Das, Who Oversaw Demonetization, Is New RBI Governor". Livemint. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
- "Shaktikanta Das Is New RBI Governor". BloombergQuint. BQ Desk. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
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: CS1 maint: others (link) - "Shaktikanta Das: The Man Behind GST, Note Ban Now Heads RBI". The Economic Times. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2022.