Reserve bank of India (RBI) is the Central Bank of India. It is responsible to govern the monetary policy of the country. RBI was established on 1st April 1935 under the RBI Act, 1934 and was formed with the recommendation of “Hilton – Young Commission”. It was initially established as a privately owned bank and got nationalized on 1st January 1949 after the independence of India. RBI is headquartered in Mumbai but initially, it was located in Kolkata and shifted to Mumbai in 1937. Government Of India appoints the head of RBI who is referred to as governor. So far RBI has had 25 governors. Osborne Smith was the first governor of RBI in 1935 and Shaktikanta Das is the current governor of RBI. One of the major responsibilities that RBI holds is to form the monetary policy.
RBI consists of the following members:
- ➤ One– Governor
- ➤ Four– Deputy Governor
- ➤ Fourteen– Directors
- ➤ Two– Government Officers
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RBI Governors: Powers
The RBI Governors carries many powers. We can understand them with the help of the following points:
- ➤ Banker’s banker
- ➤ Heads all the commercial banks
- ➤ Influence on micro and macro economies
- ➤ Control over stock market
- ➤ Signatures on currency notes
- ➤ Control over monetary, currency and credit system
RBI Governors List: Governor Eligibility
Initially, RBI Governors were a part of Indian Civil services like C D Deshmukh, Bengal Rama Rao etc. but 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:
- ➤ IMF/ World Bank.
- ➤ Chairman or General Manager of a Bank.
- ➤ Reputed Financial or Banking organization.
- ➤ Ministry of Finance (GOI)
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.
RBI Governors List: Appointment
The Governor of RBI is not appointed by the PMO (Prime Minister Office) on the recommendation of Union Finance Minister.
RBI Governors List: Tenure
The tenure of a RBI Governors as specified in the constitution is three years however it can be extended for two more years. The Governor can be terminated in two cases and they are as follows:
- ➤ If dismissed by the President.
- ➤ Resignation is submitted by the Governor to the President.
RBI Governors List: Responsibilities of RBI Governors
Here are some duties which are generally performed by the RBI Governors.
- ➤ The RBI governors are responsible for maintaining the monetary stability in an economy. Thus, plays an important role in formulating the policies of Reserve Bank of India.
- ➤ The responsibility for issuing licenses to open new foreign and private banks is also headed by the governor of RBI.
- ➤ 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.
- ➤ 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.
- ➤ 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.
- ➤ Monitoring of adequate quantities of currency notes and coins supply in the country and the issuance and destruction of currency not fit for circulation in public.
- ➤ RBI Governor also keeps a check on rules and regulations in order to make them more customer-friendly.
- ➤ Through Urban Bank Departments RBI governor leads and supervise primary co-operative banks.
- ➤ Furthermore, RBI Governor 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.
The RBI Governors perform many more functions as the central bank of India.
RBI Governors List: Full Table
The list of RBI Governors from 1935 to 2020 is as mentioned below:
| RBI Governors Names | Time Period 1935-2020 |
| Sir Osborne Smith | April 1, 1935 – June 30, 1937 |
| Sir James Braid Taylor | July 1, 1937 – February 17, 1943 |
| Sir C.D. Deshmukh | August 11, 1943 – June 30, 1949 |
| Sir Bengal Rama Rau | July 1, 1949 – January 14, 1957 |
| K.G. Ambegaonkar | January 14, 1957 – February 28, 1957 |
| H.V.R Lyengar | March 1, 1957 – February 28, 1962 |
| P.C Bhattacharya | March 1, 1962 – June 30, 1967 |
| L.K. Jha | July 1, 1967 – May 3, 1970 |
| B.N. Adarkar | May 4, 1970 – June 15, 1970 |
| S. Jagannathan | June 16, 1970 – May 19, 1975 |
| N.C. Sen Gupta | May 19, 1975 – August 19, 1975 |
| K.R. Puri | August 20, 1975 – May 2, 1977 |
| M. Narasimham | May 3, 1977 – November 30, 1977 |
| I.G. Patel | December 1, 1977 – September 15, 1982 |
| Manmohan Singh | September 16, 1982 – January 14, 1985 |
| Amitav Gosh | January 15, 1985 – September 4, 1985 |
| R.N. Malhotra | February 4, 1985 – December 22, 1990 |
| S. Vpnldraramanan | December 22, 1990 – December 21, 1992 |
| C. Rangarajan | December 22, 1992 – November 21, 1997 |
| Bimal Jalan | November 22, 1997 – September 6, 2003 |
| Y.V. Reddy | September 6, 2003 – September 5, 2008 |
| D. Subbarao | September 5, 2008 – September 4, 2013 |
| Raghuram G. Raj an | September 4, 2013 – September 4, 2016 |
| Urjit Ravindra Patel | September 4, 2016 – December 10,2018 |
| Shaktikanta Das | December 12, 2018 – to date |
