List of RBI Governors
The Reserve Bank of India is a central bank that issues currency to the country and frames monetary policies for the country. It regulates and facilitates the banking system in the country. RBI headquarter is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
1. Urjit Patel
He is a banker, consultant, and eminent Indian Economist. He was born on 28 October 1963 in Nairobi, Kenya. He has done a BA from London. Apart from holding a BA degree, he also holds a degree in M.Phill from the University of Oxford, England, United Kingdom, and a Doctorate in Economics from Yale University, Connecticut, USA. He has given service to reputed institutes like International Monetary Fund and worked in several countries like India, Bahamas, Myanmar, and the USA. He has assumed the deputy governor and Governor office of the Reserve Bank of India. He took the office of Governor on 4 September 2016 and resigned from his post. He gave his resignation, citing personal reasons. Various reports suggest that it was due to a conflict of opinions with the Government of India. He was the Governor when the Government announced the decision of Demonetisation. The task of issuing new currency to the nation was with the RBI.
2. Raghuram Rajan
He is a son of I.P.S officer R. Govindarajan. He was born on 3 February 1963 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He was brilliant in studies from childhood and has done his schooling at Delhi Public School (DPS), RK Puram, New Delhi. He is a very famous economist in the world. He was Governor under two different successive Government-Dr. Manmohan Singh Government and Narendra Modi Government. He has a B.Tech degree from IIT Delhi, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had already predicted the Financial Crisis of 2008 and had written about it in his book. He has also served as Chief Economist and as Research director in the International Monetary Fund. His father worked for the Central Government.
He gave a controversial paper at US Federal Reserve. In his paper, he has expressed his apprehensions about financial development in the riskier world, and at that time, he faced severe criticism from economists.
3.Shaktikanta Das
He was born on 26 February 1957 in Bhubneshwar, Odisha, India. He was an IAS officer from the Tamil Nadu Cadre and is present Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He took charge as Governor under Narendra Modi’s Government. He has also served in the Finance Ministry, Union Government of India. He was born on 26 February 1957. He has studied at St. Stephen’s College at the University of Delhi. He’s been to the Indian Institute of Management, Banglore, and the National Institute of Bank Management, Pune. He holds BA and MA in History from St. Stephen’s College, Advanced Financial Management Course from IIM Banglore, and Development Banking and Institutional Credit from NIBM. As he was in Civil Service, he has held different positions in the Central Government and the Tamil Nadu Government. He started as a collector and rose to the secretary in the Government. A group of politicians and bureaucrats criticized this Government’s move for elevating a person who has been a history student for the post which deals with the highest matter of Economy in the nation. He started preparing for the civil service when he passed out of college.
4. Duvvuri Subbarao
Subbarao has held the office of RBI governor from 5 September 2008 to 4 September 2013. He has done B.Sc from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and M.Sc degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and P.h.d. from Andhra Pradesh. He was in the Indian Administrative Service. He has served the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Government of India. He has held the post of Finance Secretary in the Central Government. He was appointed as Governor during the tenure of Dr.Manmohan Singh’s Government. He was at deputation in the World Bank and part of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council and then upgraded to Finance Secretary. He started as a Governor of the Reserve Bank of India just a week before the global financial crisis hit the world in September 2008. He undertook a massive effort to scale down the effects of the crisis on the Indian Economy and instituted financial sector reforms that the nation learned from the crisis. He took part in meetings of G20 meetings and the meetings of the International Monetary and FinancialCommittee of the IMF.
5. Y. Venugopal Reddy
Reddy was in Indian Administrative Service and has held the office of Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He was in Andhra Pradesh Cadre and has served the various positions of the Government of India and the Government of Andhra Pradesh. He is being conferred with Padma Vibhushan by the Central Government. Reddy has studied at Madras University, obtained an MA degree, and has a Ph.D. from Osmania University, Hyderabad. He has held the office of Chairman of the 14th Finance Commission of India. His family roots lie in Andhra Pradesh. He has held positions like Principal Secretary in Andhra Pradesh Government and has served in countries like Tanzania, Bahrain, China, and Ethiopia. He has written several books, which include:
- India and The Global Financial Crisis: Managing Money and Finance Anthem Press
- Global Crisis, Recession, and Uneven Recovery
- Economic Policies and India’s Reform Agenda: New Thinking
- Advice and Dissent
- Indian Fiscal Federalism
6. Bimal Jalan
He was born on 17 August 1941 and has held the office of Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He was a Parliamentarian from Rajya Sabha (2003-2009). He was Governor in the two successive different Governments- UPA. The Government was led by Indian National Congress, and the second was the NDA government, led by Bhartiya Janta Party. He was born in a British India period place called Sadulpur, Rajasthan. He has obtained education from the Presidency College Cambridge University and Oxford University. He has worked in various departments of the Government of India Finance Secretary, Ministry of Finance (JAN 1991-SEPT 1992), Chief Economic Adviser, and Banking Secretary. He has served for 5 years as Governor of RBI. The Government of India extended its tenure. He was the President of the Governing Body of the National Council of Applied Economic Research and Planning Commission in New Delhi.
He has written some wonderful books, which include:
- India’s Economic Crisis: The Way Ahead
- The Indian Economy: Problems and Prospects
- India’s Economic Policy: Preparing for the Twenty-first Century
- The Future of India Politics, Economics, and Governance
- India’s Politics: A view from the backbench.
7. C. Rangarajan
He was born on 5 January 1932. The Central Government has recognized him with Padma Vibhushan. He has also been to the Parliament as a member of the RajyaSabha. He has obtained a graduation degree from Loyola College (University of Madras). Then he got his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania University. He has also assumed the office of Governor of Andhra Pradesh (1997-2003). He has given a lecture at prestigious institutions like the Indian Institute of Management (Ahemdabad) and the University of Pennsylvania. His books are used as study material in several business management schools. He has assumed the office of Chairman of the 12TH Finance Commission. During the covid outbreak, the Government of Tamil Nadu constituted a high-powered committee to look into various economic aspects of the state when the whole state was shut down and suggest measures to the Government. He proposed to Government that the Economy has the ability to bounce back in the period of two months. He was
- The Founding Chairman of the CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science
- chairman of the Madras School of Economics,t
- former President of the Indian Statistical Institute
- Former Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad
- Professor at Ahemdabad University
8. Sri Venkitaramanan
Venkitramanam was in the Indian Administrative Service and has served in two-state Governments- The Government of Tamil Nadu and the Government of Karnataka. He has assumed higher posts in the Central Government. The Government of India had appointed him Finance Secretary in the Finance ministry. He was born on 28 January 1931 in Nagercoil. He did his master’s in Physics from University College Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was the alma mater of:
- Government Model Boys Higher Secondary School Attingal, University College, Thiruvananthapuram
- Carnegie Mellon University
He was Governor of RBI at that time when the Government of India announced some of the biggest economic changes in the country, i.e., Liberalisation, Privatisation, and Globalisation. At that balance of payments, the crisis was there in India, and Forex Reserves were depleting. Harshad Mehta’s Scam was exposed during his tenure. He has written three books which include:
- Indian Economy: Reviews and Commentaries-Vol I
- Indian Economy: Reviews and Commentaries-Vol II
- Indian Economy: Reviews and Commentaries- Vol III
9. RN Malhotra
His name was Ram Narain Malhotra, widely known as R.N. Malhotra. He was appointed as Secretary of Finance by the Government of India. He was in the Indian Administrative Service and has served in State Government and the Central Government positions. He was also deputed to the International Monetary Fund as Director. He was appointed as Governor of RBI for a period from 4 February 1985 to 22 December 1990. RBI came up with Rs 500 note during his tenure. The Central Government recognized him with Padma Bhushan Award. His wife was in the Indian Administrative Service. Her name was Anna Rajam Malhotra.
10. Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh was an RBI governor for just 20 days, and he was also deputy governor of the RBI. Before coming to the RBI, Ghosh was the Chairman of the IDBI Bank. He departed at the age of 90. During his tenure as Deputy Governor, Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Reserve Bank of India Governor, and later, he became the Prime Minister of India. He was made Governor of RBI just to hand over charge to RN Malhotra.
11. Manmohan Singh
He has held the highest office in the Government of India, i.e., the Prime Minister’s office of India. He announced the economic reform- Globalisation, Liberalisation, and Privatisation. He was appointed as Governor of RBI from 16 November 1982 to 14 January 1985. He was born on 26 September 1932. He is part of the Congress Party Working Committee and has deep knowledge of the country’s economics. He is a seasoned politician and has a long association with the Indian National Congress. During his term as Minister of Finance, Government of India, many economic changes were brought in. He is now a Parliamentarian (Rajya Sabha) in Rajasthan, where his party is in power.
12. I.G. Patel
Indraprasad Gordhanbhai Patel is also known as I.G. Patel. He has studied at the University of Mumbai and did his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He has headed the London School of Economics. He was part of the Indian Economic Service, and he was given service to the Government of India as a special secretary in the Finance Ministry and secretary for the economic affairs department in the Government of India. He was also in UN Development Programme, and later, he assumed the position of Governor of RBI. The Central Government has recognized him with the Padma Vibhushan award for his contribution to the field of economics. He has given his service as Director of the London School of Economics, and it made him the first person of Indian Origin to head a higher education organization in the United Kingdom. He was part of the Board of Governors from 1996 to 2001 at IIM (Indian Institute of Management), Ahemdabad.
13. M Narasimham
He was born on 3 June 1927 and took the office of RBI. He assumed Governor office on 2 May 1977 and demitted office on 30 November 1977. He has given service to various renowned institutions like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank. He was in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India as secretary. The Central Government has recognized him with Padma Vibhushan for his contribution. He was part of the Committee of Banking Sector Reforms, Committee of Banking Sector Reforms, and Committee on the Financial Market. He has been tagged as the father of Banking reforms in India. He has written some incredible books, and they include:
- India and the Current Crisis in the International Economy
- World Economic Environment and Prospects for India
- System, India Committee on the Financial;
- Economic Reforms Development and Finance
- From Reserve Bank to Finance Ministry and Beyond: Some Reminiscences