Governors of Reserve Bank of India
The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the chief executive officer of India’s central bank and the ex-official 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 25 governors.
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 15th governor, Dr Manmohan Singh, later became India’s 13th prime minister.
Shaktikanta Das is the 25th governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 12 December 2018.
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; 86 years ago
Deputy : Deputy Governors of the Reserve Bank of India
Salary : ₹ 2,50,000 per month
List of RBI Governors (1935-2021)
| S.No, | RBI Governors Names | Tenure |
| 1 | Sir Osborne Smith | 01-April-1935 to 30-June-1937 |
| 2 | Sir James Taylor | 01-July-1937 to 17-February-1943 |
| 3 | Sir C.D. Deshmukh | 11-August-1943 to 30-June-1949 |
| 4 | Sir Benegal Rama Rau | 01-July-1949 to 14-January-1957 |
| 5 | K G Ambegaonkar | 14-January-1957 to 28-February-1957 |
| 6 | H V R Iengar | 01-March-1957 to 28-February-1962 |
| 7 | P C Bhattacharya | 01-March-1962 to 30-June-1967 |
| 8 | L K Jha | 01-July-1967 to 03-May-1970 |
| 9 | B N Adarkar | 04-May-1970 to 15-June-1970 |
| 10 | S Jagannathan | 16-June-1970 to 19-May-1975 |
| 11 | N C Sen Gupta | 19-May-1975 to 19-August-1975 |
| 12 | K R Puri | 20-August-1975 to 02-May-1977 |
| 13 | M Narasimham | 02-May-1977 to 30-November-1977 |
| 14 | Dr. I G Patel | 01-December-1977 to 15-September-1982 |
| 15 | Dr. Manmohan Singh | 16- September-1982 to 14-January-1985 |
| 16 | A Ghosh | 15-January-1985 to 04-February-1985 |
| 17 | R N Malhotra | 04-February-1985 to 22-December-1990 |
| 18 | Venkitaramanan | 22-December-1990 to 21-December-1992 |
| 19 | Dr. C Rangarajan | 22-December-1992 to 22-November-1997 |
| 20 | Dr. Bimal Jalan | 22-November-1997 to 06-September-2003 |
| 21 | Dr. Y V Reddy | 06-September-2003 to 05-September-2008 |
| 22 | Dr. D. Subbarao | 05-September-2008 to 04-September-2013 |
| 23 | Dr. Raghuram Rajan | 04-September-2013 to 04-September-2016 |
| 24 | Dr. Urjit R. Patel | 04-September-2016 to 11-December-2018 |
| 25 | Shri Shaktikanta Das | 12-December-2018 to incumbent |
RBI consists of the following members
1. One- Governor
2. Four- Deputy Governors
3. Fourteen- Directors
4. Two- Government Officers
Powers of RBI Governor
1. Banker’s banker
2. Influence on micro and macro economies
3. Heads all the commercial banks
4. Signatures on currency notes
5. Control over stock market
6. Control over monetary, currency and credit system
Eligibility for RBI Governor
Initially, RBI Governors were a part of Indian Civil services but if any individual who holds a Graduate degree/ Post Graduate/ Chartered Accountant can become a Governor of RBI provided that he had worked in any of the following institutions
1. Ministry of Finance (GOI)
2. Chairman or General Manager of a Bank
3. IMF/ World Bank
4. Reputed Financial or Banking organization
Other than the above any citizen who is 35 years or above than that is eligible. He must not be a member of the Parliament/State Legislature also he must not hold any other office for profit.
Removal of Governor
The Governor can be terminated in two cases
1. Resignation is submitted by the Governor to the President of India.
2. If dismissed by the President of India.
Responsibilities of RBI Governor
1. Issuing licenses to open new foreign and private banks is also headed by the governor of RBI.
2. He keeps a check on rules and regulations in order to make them more customer-friendly.
3. He supervise primary co-operative banks by Through Urban Bank Departments,which RBI governor leads.
4. He also has a part to play in facilitating and monitoring the flow of credit to small scale industries, rural, and agricultural sectors. The responsibility for regulating state co-operative banks, regional rural banks, and various local area banks.
5. He is responsible for maintaining adequate quantities of currency notes and coins supply in the country and the issuance and destruction of currency not fit for circulation in public.
6. He is responsible for maintaining the monetary stability in an economy. Thus, plays an important role in formulating the policies of Reserve Bank of India.
7. The power to control the interest rates on advances and deposits of the country is vested upon the governors.However, the scope of this power is limited to prescribing minimum lending rates and interest rates on savings accounts.
8. The financial system of the nation is regulated and administered by the Governor and he only sets the parameters within which the whole financial system functions.
9. The Governor of RBI manages the external trade and payment also promotes orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India which comes under the foreign exchange management act, 1999.