List of all Reserve Bank of India governors till now
The reserve bank of India RBI came into the existence in the year 1935 and went nationalized on January 1, 1949.
In the beginning, the RBI bank began as the private shareholder bank that later nationalized.
The Reserve bank of India has been governed by the 25 governors till now.
The general administration and the direction of RBI are maintained by the central board of directors that consist of the 20 members which includes of 1 governor, 4 Deputy Governors, 1 Government official appointed by the Union Government of India.
As we all know, the competitive exam is round the corner, and we also understand the significance of general knowledge in the competitive exams.
The seeking applicants who are preparing to fight the competitive exams should hone their general aptitude to give them an edge above others.
The process is simple one needs to keep themselves updated, read more and learn more. There are numerous sources that aspirants can access on the internet to grab the maximum possible learning.
Also, there are websites who empower the seeking aspirants with the best general knowledge updates and knowledge.
The question regarding the general aptitude is put up in the general awareness section of the mains exams, therefore it is very crucial that you prepare well the general awareness section.
So, Guys today’s post is all about the “List of RBI Governors of India”.
Stay tuned with us till the end to grab the learning
So, without any ado, let’s get started
Introduction to RBI
- The reserve bank of India is our central bank of India. The bank manages the working of the other banks and other financial institutions in India
- The bank inaugurated its operations from its headquarters in Kolkata on 1st April 1935. Currently, the headquarter is in Mumbai
- The central governments appoint RBI governor along with other deputy governors.
What are the Roles of RBI Governors?
- The RBI Governor is the custodian of Indian reserves and defender of the external value of the currency
- They handle the formulating the policies on priority sector and support the agriculture banks
- It controls the operation under the Foreign exchange management act, 1999 that promotes external trades and payment
- and promotes the orderly development
- Maintenance of the foreign exchange market
- Governs the urban cooperative banks
- Poverty alleviation schemes formed by the government is also managed by the governor
- Forms decision to support the national objectives
- The governor issues the license to open the new private and foreign banks and manages their banking
- The economic decision/issues and financial system of the country i
- Responsible to maintain the financial stability of our economy
- Manages the interest rates on the deposits and advances of the country
What are the Duties of the RBI Governor?
- Manage over the stock market
- Control all the scheduled banks
- Signature on the currency notes
- Manages monetary, currency and the credit system
- Manages the stock market
Powers of the RBI Governor
- Leads all the commercial banks
- Control over the stock market
- Impact on micro and macro economics
- Signature on the currency notes
- Controls monetary, currency and the credit system
What are the Subsidiaries of RBI?
- Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC).
- National Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (NABARD).
- National Housing Bank.
- Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL)
List of RBI Governors of India
Here is the list of all the Governors of Reserve Bank of India.
| S.N. | Governor Name | Tenure |
| 1. | Osborne Smith | April 1, 1935 to June 30, 1937 |
| 2. | James Brend Taylor | July 1, 1937 to February 17, 1943 |
| 3. | C. D. Deshmukh | August 11, 1943 to June 30, 1949 |
| 4. | Benegal Rama Rao | July 1, 1949 to 14 January 1957 |
| 5. | K. G. Amgaonkar | January 14, 1957 to 28 February 1957 |
| 6. | H. V. R. Iyengar | March 1, 1957 to February 28, 1962 |
| 7. | P. C. Bhattacharya | March 1, 1962 to June 30, 1967 |
| 8. | L. K. Jha | July 1, 1967 to May 3, 1970 |
| 9. | B. N. Adarakar | May 4, 1970 to June 15, 1970 |
| 10. | S. Jagannathan | June 16, 1970 to May 19, 1975 |
| 11. | N. C. Sen Gupta | May 19, 1975 to 19th August, 1975 |
| 12. | K. R. Puri | August 20, 1975 to May 2, 1977 |
| 13. | M. Narasimhan | May 3, 1977 to November 30, 1977 |
| 14. | I.G. Patel | December 1, 1977 to 15 September, 1982 |
| 15. | Man Mohan Singh | September 16, 1982 to 14 January 1985 |
| 16. | Amitabh Ghosh | January 15, 1985 to 4th February, 1985 |
| 17. | R. N. Malhotra | February 4, 1985 to December 22, 1990 |
| 18. | S. Venkatraman | December 22, 1990 to December 21, 1992 |
| 19. | C. Rangarajan | December 22, 1992 to November 21, 1997 |
| 20. | Bimal Jalan | November 22, 1997 to September 6, 2003 |
| 21. | y. V. Reddy | September 6, 2003 to September 5, 2008 |
| 22. | D. Subbarao | September 5, 2008 to September 4, 2013 |
| 23. | Raghuram Rajan | September 4, 2013 to September 4, 2016 |
| 24. | Urjit Patel | September 4, 2016 to 11 Dec.2018 |
| 25. | Shaktikanta Das | From 12 Dec.2018 |
| List of Prime Ministers of India | List of Chief Ministers of India |
| List of Cabinet Minister of India | List of Brand Ambassadors in India |
| List of Bharat Ratan Awards | List of Governor of India |
Below given is the handy reference along with details.
RBI Governors Work Tenure
| S.No. | Name | Tenure From | Tenure Up to | Work Tenure Detail |
| 1 | RBI First Governor – Sir Osborne A. Smith | 1st April 1935 | 30th June 1937 | Sir Osborne Smith was the first Governor of the Reserve Bank. A professional banker, his outlook on policy issues like the exchange rates and interest rates was at variance with that of the Government Sir Osborne, however, did not sign any bank notes during his tenure. |
| 2 | RBI 2nd Governor – Sir James Braid Taylor | 1st July 1937 | 17th February 1943 | His stewardship saw the Bank through the war years and the financial experiments it engendered and catalysed, including the decisive break away from a silver currency to fiat money. |
| 3 | RBI 3rd Governor – Sir Chinataman D. Deshmukh | 11th August 1943 | 30th June 1949 | Saw the transition to Independence and the partition of the country and the division of the assets and liabilities of the Reserve Bank between India and Pakistan. |
| 4 | RBI 4th Governor – Sir Benegal Rama Rau | 1st July 1949 | 14th January 1957 | His tenure witnessed the commencement of the Planning Era as well innovative initiatives in the spheres of co-operative credit and industrial finance. The recommendations of the All India Rural Credit Survey Committee appointed during his tenure led to the transformation of the Imperial Bank of India to State Bank of India. |
| 5 | RBI 5th Governor – K.G. Ambegaonkar | 14th January 1957 | 28th February 1957 | He forged closer connections between agricultural enterprise and the Reserve Bank’s operations. K G Ambegaonkar did not sign any bank notes. |
| 6 | RBI 6th Governor – H.V.R. Iyenger | 1st March 1957 | 28th February 1962 | His tenure witnessed India’s shift to decimal coinage from the earlier system. |
| 7 | RBI 7th Governor – P.C. Bhattacharya | 1st March 1962 | 30th June 1967 | His tenure saw the establishment of the Industrial Development Bank of India (1964), and the establishment of the Agricultural Refinance Corporation (1963) and the Unit Trust of India (1964). The devaluation of the Rupee in 1966, |
| 8 | RBI 8th Governor – L.K. Jha | 1st July 1967 | 3rd May 1970 | mongst other developments, gold controls were brought on a statutory basis; |
| 9 | RBI 9th Governor – B.N. Adarkar | 4th May 1970 | 15th June 1970 | he played an active role in the establishment of the National Institute of Bank Management. |
| 10 | RBI 10th Governor – S. Jagannathan | 16th June 1970 | 19th August 1975 | the setting up of State Level Bankers’ Committees and the shift to floating rates regime. |
| 11 | RBI 11th Governor – N. C. Sen Gupta | 19th May 1975 | 19th August 1975 | N C Sen Gupta was appointed Governor for three months till K R Puri could assume office. |
| 12 | RBI 12th Governor – K.R. Puri | 20th August 1975 | 2nd May 1977 | During his tenure, Regional Rural Banks were set up; |
| 13 | RBI 13th Governor – M. Narasimham | 2nd May 1977 | 30th November 1977 | He had a short tenure of seven months. |
| 14 | RBI 14th Governor – Dr. I.G. Patel | 1st December 1977 | 15th September 1982 | His tenure witnessed the demonetisation of high denomination notes as well as the “gold auctions” conducted by the Bank on behalf of Government of India. During his tenure six private sector banks were nationalised, targets for priority sector lending introduced, and the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporations were merged, and a Departmental reorganisation was undertaken in the Bank |
| 15 | RBI 15th Governor – Dr. Manmohan Singh | 16th September 1982 | 14th January 1985 | During his tenure comprehensive legal reforms were carried out related to the banking sector and a new chapter introduced in the Reserve Bank of India Act and the Urban Banks Department was set up. |
| 16 | RBI 16th Governor – A. Ghosh | 15th January 1985 | 4th February 1985 | |
| 17 | RBI 17th Governor – R.N. Malhotra | 4th February 1985 | 22nd December 1990 | During his tenure efforts were made to develop the money markets and new instruments were introduced. The Discount and Finance House of India, the National Housing Bank were set up and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research inaugurated. |
| 18 | RBI 18th Governor – S.Venkitaramanan | 22nd December 1990 | 21st December 1992 | The country faced difficulties related to the external sector during his tenure. His adroit management saw the country tide over the balance of payments crisis. Rupee underwent a devaluation and the launch of the programme of economic reforms |
| 19 | RBI 19th Governor – Dr. C. Rangarajan | 22nd Decmeber 1992 | 22nd November 1997 | His tenure as Governor saw unprecedented central bank activism to put in place a comprehensive set of measures to strengthen and improve the competitive efficiency of the financial sector |
| 20 | RBI 20th Governor – Dr. Bimal Jalan | 22nd November 1997 | 5th September 2003 | During his tenure, India weathered the Asian Crisis and has seen the consolidation of the gains of liberalisation and economic reforms |
| 21 | RBI 21th Governor – Dr. Y.V. Reddy | 6th September 2003 | 5th September 2008 | has made significant policy contributions in the areas of financial sector reforms; trade finance; monitoring of balance of payments and exchange rate; external commercial borrowings; centre-state financial relations; regional planning; and public enterprise reform and has been closely associated with institution building. |
| 22 | RBI 22th Governor – Dr. D. Subbaroa | 5th September 2008 | 4th September 2013 | |
| 23 | RBI 23th Governor – Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan | 4th September 2013 | 4th September 2016 | he was awarded the Financial Times-Goldman Sachs prize for best business book in 2010.The other awards he has received include the global Indian of the year award from NASSCOM in 2011, the Infosys prize for the Economic Sciences in 2012, and the Center for Financial Studies-Deutsche Bank Prize for financial economics in 2013. |
| 24 | RBI 24th Governor – Dr. Urjit R. Patel | 4th September 2016 | Till Date | Dr. Patel has several publications in the areas of Indian macroeconomics, monetary policy, public finance, the Indian financial sector, international trade, and regulatory economics. |
| 25 | RBI 25th Governor – Shaktikanta Das | 11th December 2018 | Till Date | Dr. Patel has several publications in the areas of Indian macroeconomics, monetary policy, public finance, the Indian financial sector, international trade, and regulatory economics. |
Shaktikanta Das is a 1980 batch retired Indian Administrative Services Officer who is presently serving as the governor of the RBI.
He is the 25th RBI Governor in office.
List of Deputy Governor of RBI
| 1. Shri M. K. Jain | 22.06.2018 onwards |
| 2. Shri B.P. Kanungo | 03.04.2017 onwards |
| 3. Dr. Viral V. Acharya | 23.01.2017 …to be decided |
| 4. Shri N. S. Vishwanathan | 04.07.2016 onwards |
| 5. Shri S. S. Mundra | 31.07.2014 to 30.07.2017 |
| 6. Shri R. Gandhi | 03.04.2014 to 02.04.2017 |
| 7. Dr. Urjit R. Patel | 11.01.2013 to 10.01.2016 11.01.2016 to 04.09.2016 |
| 8. Shri Harun R. Khan | 04.07.2011 to 03.07.2014 04.07.2014 to 04.07.2016 |
| 9. Shri Anand Sinha | 19.01.2011 to 18.01.2014 |
| 10. Dr. Subir Gokarn | 24.11.2009 to 31.12.2012 |
| 11. Dr.K.C.Chakrabarty | 15.06.2009 to 25.04.2014 |
| 12. Smt Usha Thorat | 10.11.2005 to 09.11.2010 |
| 13. Smt Shyamala Gopinath | 21.09.2004 to 08.09.2009 09.09.2009 to 20.06.2011 (forenoon) |
| 14. Shri V Leeladhar | 21.09.2004 to 08.12.2008 (forenoon) |
| 15. Smt. K J Udeshi | 10.06.2003 to 12.10.2005 |
| 16. Rakesh Mohan | 09.09.2002 to 31.10.2004 02.07.2005 to 10.06.2009 |
| 17. G P Muniappan | 01.07.2001 to 31.05.2003 |
| 18. Vepa Kamesam | 01.07.2001 to 23.09.2003 24.09.2003 to 23.12.2003 |
| 19. Jagdish Capoor | 01.01.1997 to 30.06.1999 01.07.1999 to 30.06.2001 |
| 20. Y V Reddy | 14.09.1996 to 31.08.2001 01.09.2001 to 31.07.2002 |
| 21. R.V. Gupta | 02.05.1995 to 30.11.1997 |
| 22. S.P. Talwar | 07.11.1994 to 30.06.1999 01.07.1999 to 30.06.2001 |
| 23. D.R. Mehta | 11.11.1992 to 21.02.1995 |
| 24. S.S. Tarapore | 30.01.1992 to 30.09.1996 |
| 25. R. Janakiraman | 16.05.1990 to 15.05.1993 |
| 26. P.R. Nayak | 01.04.1987 to 31.03.1992 |
| 27. P.D. Ojha | 29.04.1985 to 28.04.1990 |
| 28. R.K. Kaul | 01.10.1983 to 30.09.1986 |
| 29. M.V. Hate | 12.03.1982 to 11.03.1985 |
| 30. C. Rangarajan | 12.02.1982 to 11.02.1987 12.02.1987 to 20.08.1991 |
| 31. A. Ghosh | 21.01.1982 to 20.01.1987 21.01.1987 to 20.01.1992 |
| 32. M. Ramakrishnayya | 02.01.1978 to 31.01.1983 |
| 33. J.C. Luther | 04.01.1977 to 01.06.1977 |
| 34. P.R. Nangia | 29.12.1975 to 15.02.1982 |
| 35. K.S. Krishnaswamy | 29.12.1975 to 31.03.1981 |
| 36. R.K. Sheshadri | 26.07.1973 to 25.07.1976 |
| 37. S.S. Shiralkar | 18.12.1970 to 25.07.1976 |
| 38. V.V. Chari | 17.11.1970 to 30.11.1975 |
| 39. R.K. Hazari | 27.11.1969 to 26.11.1977 |
| 40. P.N. Damry | 13.02.1967 to 12.02.1972 13.02.1972 to 15.03.1972 |
| 41. Prof. J.J. Anjaria | 01.02.1967 to 28.02.1970 |
| 42. A. Bakshi | 24.01.1967 to 08.09.1969 |
| 43. B.N. Adarkar | 16.06.1965 to 03.05.1970 |
| 44. B.K. Madan | 01.07.1964 to 31.01.1967 |
| 45. M.R. Bhide | 29.02.1964 to 25.01.1967 |
| 46. C.S. Divekar | 12.11.1962 to 11.11.1965 |
| 47. D.G. Karve | 01.03.1962 to 29.02.1964 |
| 48. M.V. Rangachari | 01.03.1960 to 28.02.1965 |
| 48. B. Venkatappaiah | 01.07.1955 to 30.06.1960 01.07.1960 to 28.02.1962 |
| 50. K.G. Ambegaonkar | 01.03.1955 to 13.01.1957 01.03.1957 to 29.02.1960 |
| 51. J.V. Joshi | 11.09.1952 to 10.01.1953 |
| 52. Ram Nath | 08.06.1951 to 08.07.1951 09.07.1951 to 08.07.1956 09.07.1956 to 08.07.1959 |
| 53. N. Sundaresan | 01.01.1950 to 31.12.1954 |
| 54. W.T. McCallum | 15.04.1946 to 14.08.1946 15.04.1948 to 14.07.1948 |
| 55. M.G. Mekhri | 08.07.1946 to 07.07.1951 |
| 56. C.R. Trevor | 16.08.1943 to 31.12.1949 |
| 57. Wajahat Hussain | 16.08.1943 to 04.12.1945 |
| 58. C.D. Deshmukh | 22.12.1941 to 10.08.1943 |
| 59. Manilal B. Nanavati | 21.12.1936 to 21.12.1941 |
| 60. Captain Sir Sikander Hyat Khan | 01.04.1935 to 20.10.1935 |
| 61. Sir James B. Taylor | 01.04.1935 to 30.06.1937 |
Things to Remember about RBI Governors
Q Which RBI governor was also the prime minister?
Dr. Man Mohan Singh
Q Who are the three Deputy Governors of RBI?
A: Mr. B. P. Kanungo, Mr. Viral V. Acharya, and Mr. N. S. Vishwanathan.
Q . Name the first Indian RBI governor?
The name of the first Indian RBI governor is Sir Osborne Smith
Q Name the first Indian RBI governor?
The first Indian RBI governor is C. D. Deshmukh
Q Which governors have served for the longest duration in the Reserve bank of India?
The governor who serves for the longest duration is Benegal Rama Rao. He was appointed as the governor from July 1, 1949 to January 14, 1957
Q: Name the RBI Governor who served the shortest period in the RBI
Amitabh Ghosh.
- Who is the present governor of Reserve bank of India?
At present, the governor of the Reserve bank of India is “Shashikant das” who took the responsibility on 12 Dec 2018.
Final Words
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