rbi governors

8/3/2019 RBI Governors

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Sir Osborne Arkell Smith, (26 December 1876-30

August 1952) was the first Governor of the Reserve

Bank of India from 1 April 1935 to 30 June 1937. Smith was professional banker, and had served for 20

years with the Bank of New South Wales and 10 years

with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

He then came to India in 1926 as Managing Governor

of the Imperial Bank of India.

His stewardship of the Imperial Bank won him

recognition in banking circles in India.

Since his outlook on policy issues like the exchange

rates and interest rates differed with that of theGovernment, he resigned before the completion of his

term of office.

Sir Osborne, did not sign any Indian rupee notes

during his tenure


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Sir James Braid Taylor,(21 April 1891-17 February

1943)was the second Governor of the Reserve Bank of

India from 1 July 1937 until he died in office on 17February 1943.

Taylor, a member of the Indian Civil Service, served as

a Deputy Controller in the Currency Department of the

Government of India for over a decade.

He was closely associated with the preparation and

piloting of the Reserve Bank of India Bill. He governed

the bank during the war years and was involved in

decision to move from a silver currency to fiat money

Even though he was the second Governor, hissignature was the first to appear on the currency notes

of the Indian rupee.

His second term came to an end when he died in

office on 17 February 1943.


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Sir Chintman Dwraknth Deshmukh,

(14 January 1896 - October 2, 1982), better

known as C. D. Deshmukh, was the firstIndian to be appointed as the Governor of

the Reserve Bank of India in 1943 (1943-

49) by the British Raj authorities. He

subsequently served as the Finance

Minister in the Union Cabinet (1950 -1956).

Deshmukh received his education at Jesus

College, Cambridge, England in the field ofNatural Sciences. He was married to

freedom fighter and activist, Durgabai

Deshmukh.


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Sir Benegal Rama Rau,(1 July 1889 13

December 1969 was the fourth Governor of

the Reserve Bank of India from 1 July 1949to 14 January 1957.

He was educated at Presidency College,

Madras, and at Kings College, Cambridge. He was a member of the Indian Civil

Service.

While he had the longest tenure as

Governor of the RBI, it was cut short when

he resigned just before the expiry of his

second extended term, due to differences

with the then Finance Minister. (TTK)


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K. G. Ambegaokarwas the fifth Governor of the

Reserve Bank of India from 14 January 1957 to 28

February 1957.

He was a member of the Indian Civil Service, and

served as Finance Secretary before his

appointment as Deputy Governor of the RBI. He had the shortest tenure (45 days)

Ambegaonkar's signature as RBI Governor did not

appear on any Indian Rupee note, but his

signature as Finance Secretary appeared on the

second, third, and fourth Rupee notes issued after

independence.


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H. V. R. Iyengarwas the sixth Governor of the

Reserve Bank of India from 1 March 1957 to 28

February 1962.

He was a member of the Indian Civil Service,

and served as the Chairman of State Bank of

India, before his appointment as the Governorof the Reserve Bank.

During Iyengar's tenure the Indian coinage

system shifted from the earlier pies, paise, andanna system to decimal coinage.

He received Padma Vibhushan, India`s second

highest civilian honour from the Government of


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P. C. Bhattacharya was the seventh Governor of the

Reserve Bank of India from 1 March 1962 to 30 June

1967.

Unlike his predecessors he was a member of the

Indian Audits and Accounts Service (IA&AS).

Bhattacharya's tenure saw the establishment of the

Industrial Development Bank of India in 1964, theAgricultural Refinance Corporation in 1963 and the

Unit Trust of India in 1964.

Additionally the size of the Indian rupee notes of

denomination 5, 10 and 100 were reduced from theearlier large format to the size it is today. While this

was done for economic reasons, to reduce the cost of

paper and printing costs, it helped in bringing the

notes to a handy size.


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Lakshmi Kant Jha (22 November 1913 - 16 January

1988), was the eighth Governor of the RBI from 1 July

1967 to 3 May 1970.

During his tenure the Indian Rupee notes ofdenominations of 2, 5, 10, and 100, commemorating the

birth centenary of Mahatma Gandhi was released on 2

October 1969, these notes bear his signature.

His tenure also saw nationalization of 14 major commercialbanks, introduction of social controls over commercial

banks, establishment of National Credit Council, and the

introduction of Lead Bank Scheme to facilitate credit

delivery. Amongst other developments, gold controls were brought

on a statutory basis; Deposit Insurance was in principle

extended to Cooperative banks; and the setting up of the

Agricultural Credit Board.


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B. N. Adarkarwas the ninth Governor of the

RBI from 4 May 1970 to 15 June 1970

Unlike his predecessors who were from theIndian Civil Service, Adarkar was an

economist and had served in the office of the

Economic Adviser of the Government ofIndia.

He also served as India's Executive Director

at the IMF Adarkar was involved in the establishment of

the National Institute of Bank Management.


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S. Jagannathan was the tenth Governor of the RBI from 16

June 1970 to 19 May 1975

Jagannathan was a member of the Indian Civil Service, and

had served with the Central Government. Prior to becoming thGovernor of the RBI, he was India's Executive Director at the

World Bank

His achievement include an expansion of banking offices in

pursuance of the objectives of the nationalisation of privatebanks.

The Credit Guarantee Corporation of India, and State Level

Bankers' Committees were established during his tenure.

Indian rupee notes of 20 and 50 denomination were introducefor the first time in India and these bore his signature

He relinquished office to take up the post of the India's

Executive Director at the IMF


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N. C. Sen Gupta was the eleventh Governor of

the Reserve Bank of India from 19 May 1975 to

19 August 1975. He was the interim governor until K R Puri took

office.

Prior to that, he was the secretary to theDepartment of Banking of the Ministry of Financ

Even though his tenure was short, his signature

appears on the Indian rupee note of 1000

denomination.

This is the only note that bears his signature.


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K. R. Puri was the twelfth Governor of the

Reserve Bank of India from 20 August 1975 to 2

May 1977 He was the Chairman and Managing Director of

the Life Insurance Corporation of India prior to hi

appointment as Governor of the RBI.

His signature appears on one of the last Indian

rupee notes of 1000 denomination. These notes

were demonetised in 1978, and were re-

introduced after a period of 22 years in 2000


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M. Narasimham was the thirteenth Governor of the RB

from 2 May 1977 to 30 November 1977

RBI follows a policy of in house promotions, where all

staff persons are promoted internally. The only two jobs

where this is not done is for the Governor and one

Deputy Governor. In Narasimham's case, in house

promotion was upheld for the Governor's post.

Hence he was the first Reserve Bank cadre officer to b

appointed as Governor. He had joined the Bank as a

Research Officer in the Economic Department.

He later joined the Government and prior to hisappointment as Governor he served as Additional

Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.

After his short term as RBI Governor he served as

India's Executive Director at the World Bank and later a


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DrIndraprasad Gordhanbhai Patel (11 November 1924 - 17

July 2005) popularly known as I. G. Patel, was the fourteenth

Governor of the RBI from 1 December 1977 to 15 September

1982. Patel was an economist and before joining the Reserve Bank as

Governor had served as Secretary in the Ministry of Finance

After retiring from the Reserve Bank, Patel became the Director

The London School of Economics and Political Science (1984-

1990)

His distinguished directorship saw the school's reputation excel t

being that of the finest economics school in the world,

P. V. Narasimha Rao wanted I.G. Patel as his finance minister in

1991. But Patel declined.

The Indian Rupee notes of 1000, 5000 and 10,000 denomination

and the gold auctions were demonetised during his tenure (he

later featured on a special commemorative 1000 rupee note).

However, the 1000 notes had to be reintroduced later.


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Dr. Manmohan Singh born 26 September 1932) is the 14th and

current Prime Minister of the Republic of India.

He was the Governer of RBI from 1982-85

He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return topower after completing a full five-year term.

He is the first Sikh to hold the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime

Minister belonging to the Indian National Congress party.

Singh previously carried out economic reforms in India in 1991during his tenure as the Finance Minister, under the leadership o

P. V. Narasimha Rao, from 1991 to 1996.

These reforms resulted in the end of the Licence Raj system,

helping to open the Indian economy to greater international trade

and investment

He also looked after finance from Dec 2008 to Jan 2009


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Amitav Ghosh is an Indian banker.

He served for the 20 days from January 15 to

February 4, 1985, as the 16th governor of theReserve Bank of India.

His term was the shortest ever served by any

Reserve Bank of India governor. Previously Ghosh had been appointed RBI

deputy governor.

Before this Ghosh was the chairman of

Allahabad Bank.

He was also a Director of the IDBI Bank and wa

on the governing body of the National Institute o

Bank Management.


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R. N. Malhotra was the seventeenth governor o

the Reserve Bank of India, serving from 4

February 1985 to 22 December 1990. Malhotra was a member of the Indian

Administrative Service.

He had served as Secretary, Finance, and asIndia's Executive Director of the IMF before his

appointment as governor of the RBI.

During his tenure, the 500-rupee note was

introduced.


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S. Venkitaramanan was the eighteenth

Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 22

December 1990 to 22 December 1992. Venkitaramanan holds a Master's degree in

Physics from the University of Kerala and also a

Master's Degree in Industrial Administration from

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, USA.

He is a member of the Indian Administrative

Service, he had served as Finance Secretary,

and adviser to the Government of Karnatakabefore his appointment as Governor of the RBI


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Dr. C. Rangarajan (born 1932) is a renowned

economist and a distinguished former Member o

Parliament and Governor of the Reserve Bank oIndia.

Currently, he is the Chairman of the Prime

Minister's Economic Advisory Council.

He is also the Chairman of the Madras School o

Economics, and the Founding Chairman of the

CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics,

Statistics and Computer Science. He served as RBI governer from 1992-97


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Bimal Jalan was the Governor of Reserve Bank

of India for two terms.

The Government of India appointed Jalan asGovernor of the Reserve Bank of India, first for a

period of two years commencing November 22,

2000 to November 21, 2002 and again for a

further period of two years commencing from

November 22, 2002 and ending November 21,

2004.


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Dr. Yaga Venugopal Reddy, better known as

Y.V. Reddy, (born 17 August 1941 in Kadapa,

Andhra Pradesh) is an Indian AdministrativeService (IAS) officer of the 1964 batch who

served as Governor of the Reserve Bank of Indi

(RBI) (India's central bank) from 6 September

2003 until 5 September 2008.

In 2010, he was awarded India's second highest

civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan.


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Duvvuri Subbarao (born 11 August 1949) is a

1972 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS)officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.

On 5 September 2008, he was appointed the

twenty-second Governor of Reserve Bank of

India

rbi governors

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