List of RBI Governors
S. No. Governor Tenure Notes
1 Sir Osborne Smith 1935-1937 First Governor of the RBI
Did not sign any bank notes
2 Sir James Taylor 1937-1943 Governor during WWII
Started the practice of signing bank notes
3 Sir C D Deshmukh 1943-1949 First Indian Governor of RBI
Oversaw Independence & Partition
Represented India at the Bretton Woods Conference 1944
Served as Minister of Finance 1950-1956
4 Sir Benegal Rama Rao 1949-1957 Longest serving Governor
Was Indian Ambassador to USA prior to RBI
Witnessed commencement of Five Year Plans, and transformation of Imperial Bank of India to SBI
5 K G Ambegaonkar Jan 1957 – Feb 1957 Did not sign any bank notes
6 H V R Iyengar 1957-1962 Witnessed introduction of decimal coinage
Variable cash reserve ration (CRR) introduced
7 P C Bhattacharya 1962-1967
8 L K Jha 1967-1970 Witnessed nationalization of banks (1969)
Appointed as Ambassador to US in 1970
9 B N Adarkar May 1970 – June 1970 Served as India’s Executive Director at the IMF
10 S Jagannathan 1970-1975 Witnessed oil shock, expansion of banking services, shift to floating rates
Relinquished office to serve as Executive Director at IMF
11 N C Sen Gupta May 1975 – Aug 1975
12 K R Puri 1975-1977
13 M Narasimhan May 1977 – Nov 1977 Only Governor to be appointed from the Reserve Bank cadre
Chairperson of Committee on Financial System (1991) and Committee on Banking Sector Reforms (1998)
Served as Executive Director for India at the World Bank and the IMF
14 Dr. I G Patel 1977-1982 Served as Secretary at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Witnessed demonetisation of high denomination bank notes and “gold auctions”
Witnessed nationalization of six banks (1980)
Secured IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (1981). This was the largest arrangement of the IMF at the time
15 Dr. Manmohan Singh 1982-1985 Witnessed comprehensive legal reforms in banking sector
16 A Ghosh Jan 1985 – Feb 1985
17 R N Malhotra 1985-1990 Served as Executive Director of IMF prior to RBI
Made efforts to develop money markets
18 S Venkitaraman 1990-1992 Managed balance of payments crisis
Adopted IMF’s stabilisation programme
Supervised devaluation of the Rupee
Witnessed launch of economic reforms
19 Dr. C Rangarajan 1992-1997 Ushered in unprecedented central bank activism
Introduced comprehensive measures to strengthen and improve efficiency of banking sector
Establishment of unified exchange rate
Cap on automatic finance by the Bank to the Government
20 Dr. Bimal Jalan 1997-2003 Represented India on the Executive Boards of the IMF and World Bank prior to RBI
21 Dr Y V Reddy 2003-2008 Executive Director to IMF prior to RBI
22 Dr. D Subbarao 2008-Present Prior to RBI, he has been
* Secretary to the PM’s Economic Advisory Council (2005-2007)
* Lead economist in the World Bank (1999-2004)
* Finance Secretary to the Government of Andhra Pradesh (1993-1998)
* Joint Secretary, Dept. of Economic Affairs (1988-1993
