Shaktikanta Das To Raghuram Rajan: A Look At The RBI Governors During Modi Government
Since 2014, Raghuram Rajan, Urjit Patel, and Shaktikanta Das have served as Governors of the Reserve Bank of India, with Shaktikanta Das holding the second-longest tenure in RBI history.
Raghuram Rajan, Urjit R Patel, and Shaktikanta Das have served as the three Reserve Bank of India governors during the Narendra Modi-led central government since 2014.
On Monday, the government appointed Sanjay Malhotra, the revenue secretary in the Ministry of Finance, as the next governor of the RBI.
Malhotra will succeed Shaktikanta Das, who has helmed the central bank since 2018. His tenure is the second-longest tenure after Benegal Rama Rau, who served in the role for over seven years.
Here's a look at the RBI governors under the Modi government so far:
Raghuram Rajan
On Sept. 4, 2013, Raghuram Rajan became the 23rd governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Before becoming the governor, he was the chief economic advisor to the Ministry of Finance. Rajan also served as the chief economist and director of research at the International Monetary Fund.
In 2011, Rajan was the president of the American Finance Association and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2003, American Finance Association honoured him with the inaugural Fischer Black Prize for the best finance researcher under the age of 40.
He was also accoladed with the global Indian of the year award, the Infosys prize for the Economic Sciences and the Center for Financial Studies-Deutsche Bank Prize for financial economics.
Urjit R Patel
On Sept. 4, 2016, Urjit R Patel took over the role of the 24th governor of the Reserve Bank of India after serving as the deputy governor since January 2013.
Urjit Patel worked with many central and state government high-level committees including the task force on direct taxes, the high-level expert group for reviewing the civil and defence services pension system, the Prime Minister’s task force on infrastructure, the group of ministers on telecom matters among others.
Shaktikanta Das
Shaktikanta Das is a retired Indian Administrative Service officer and the former secretary of the Department of Revenue and Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance.
On Dec. 12, 2018, Das became the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Prior to his current role, he was the member of the 15th Finance Commission and G20 Sherpa of India.
Earlier, Das held key positions in the central and state governments focusing on areas of finance, taxation, industries and infrastructure, among others.
Sanjay Malhotra
Sanjay Malhotra, who is presently serving as the revenue secretary in the Ministry of Finance is an Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1990-batch from the Rajasthan cadre.
Before taking up the role of Revenue Secretary in November 2022, Malhotra served as Secretary in the Department of Financial Services for approximately nine months, beginning in February 2022.
Malhotra has had a distinguished bureaucratic career spanning over three decades. Prior to taking on the role of Secretary of Financial Services, he served as the Chairman and Managing Director of REC Ltd., a state-owned financer for power projects.
