RBI Governors of India from 1935 to 2024: Names, Terms, and Roles

Governors Of Reserve Bank Of India :  The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India is the most senior banker of India’s central bank RBI. Since the establishment of RBI in 1935, a total of 25 Governors have been appointed so far in the Reserve Bank of India. The first Governor of the Reserve Bank was Sir Osborne Smith.

The Government of India appoints the Governor of RBI for a fixed term of 5 years. All Indian currency notes bear the signature of the Governor of India, except the one rupee note, which is signed by the Finance Secretary of India. Check the complete list of 25 RBI Governors from 1935 to 2022. Since its establishment in 1935 by the British colonial government, RBI has been headed by 25 governors.

 

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List of RBI Governor from 1935 to 2024

List Of Governors
Serial no.	Name Of Governor	Duration
Current Governor		From	till
25	Shri Shaktikanta Das	12.12.2018	So far
former governor
24	Dr. Urjit Patel	04.09.2016	11.12.201844
23	Dr. Raghuram Rajan	04.09.2013	04.09.2016
22	Dr. D. Subbarao	05.09.2008 05.09.2011	04.09.2011 04.09.2013
21	Dr. Y.V. Reddy	06.09.2003	05.09.2008
20	Dr. Vimal Jalan	22.11.1997	05.09.2003
19	Dr. C. Rangarajan	22.12.1992 22.12.1995	21.12.1995 22.11.1997
18	Shri S. Venkitaramanan	22.12.1990	21.12.1992
17	Shri R.N. Malhotra	04.02.1985	22.12.1990
16	Mr. Amitabh Ghosh	15.01.1985	04.02.1985
15	Dr. Manmohan Singh	16.09.1982	14.01.1985
14	Dr. I.G. Patel	01.12.1977	15.09.1982
13	Shri M. Narasimham	02.05.1977	30.11.1977
12	Shri K.R. Puri	20.08.1975	02.05.1977
11	Shri N.C. Sen Gupta	19.05.1975	19.08.1975
10	Shri S. Jagannathan	16.06.1970	19.05.1975
9	Shri B.N. Aadarkar	04.05.1970	15.06.1970
8	Shri Laxmikant Jha	01.07.1967	03.05.1970
7	Shri P.C. Bhattacharya	01.03.1962	30.06.1967
6	Shri H.V.R. Iyengar	01.03.1957	28.02.1962
5	Shri K.G. AMBEGAONKAR	14.01.1957	28.02.1957
4	Shri Benegal Rama Rao	01.07.1949	14.01.1957
3	Shri Chintaman Dwarkanath Deshmukh *	11.08.1943	30.06.1949
2	Sir James Brad Taylor	01.07.1937	17.02.1943
1	Sir Asburn A. Smith	01.04.1935	30.06.1937

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 Shaktikanta Das Current RBI Governor

The present one is Shaktikanta Das, former Finance Secretary and member of the Finance Commission . He assumed charge on December 11, 2018. He is the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved extension of the tenure of the current Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shaktikanta Das for the next three years from December 10, 2021. He assumed charge as the 25th Governor of RBI on December 11, 2018 for three years. Before his appointment to the RBI, Das served as a member of the 15th Finance Commission. He is a 1980 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.

How is the RBI Governor appointed?

The Government of India appoints the RBI Governor. According to the official website of the Reserve Bank of India, rbi.org.in, “The affairs of the Reserve Bank are governed by a Central board of directors. The Board is appointed by the Government of India in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India Act.”

 

 

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Role and Responsibility of RBI Governor:-

One of the most important functions of the RBI Governor is to formulate policies that enable him to have a positive impact on the economy of India. Below are some of the important responsibilities that the RBI Governor keeps in mind:

• Being the head of the most prestigious financial institutions, the RBI Governor is responsible for maintaining monetary stability in an economy. Thus, the Reserve Bank of India plays an important role in formulating policies.
• The Governor of RBI also has the responsibility of issuing licenses for opening new foreign and private banks.
• The power to control interest rates on advances and deposits in the country is vested in the Governor. However, the scope of this power is limited to determining minimum lending rates and interest rates on savings accounts.
• The financial system of the nation is controlled and administered by the Governor and he alone sets the parameters within which the entire financial system functions.
• The Governor of RBI manages external trade and payments and also promotes the orderly development and maintenance of the foreign exchange market in India which comes under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
• To monitor the supply of adequate quantity of currency notes and coins in the country and to issue and destroy currency (which is not fit for public circulation).
• The RBI Governor also keeps an eye on the rules and regulations to make them more customer-friendly.
• The RBI Governor heads and supervises the primary co-operative banks through the Urban Bank Departments.
• In addition, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India also has a role in facilitating and monitoring the flow of credit to small scale industries, rural and agricultural sectors. The Governor is also responsible for regulating state co-operative banks, regional rural banks and various local area banks.

So these were all the RBI governors that India has seen. They have handled and saved our nation from some incredible hard times and control the financial flow of this developing nation.