Banking Awareness: Must Know Facts About RBI Governor

Dear Reader, to improve your Banking awareness, you should have good knowledge about the banking sector. RBI is the central bank of the country which is responsible for the working of all commercial banks. So you should be aware of all key details about RBI. In this tutorial, you will get complete knowledge about the Governor of RBI.

RBI was established in the year of 1935 by the British colonial government. Till date RBI has seen 23 governors. The first governor of RBI was the Britisher Sir Osborne Smith, while C. D. Deshmukh was the first Indian governor. The bank’s 15^th governor, Manmohan Singh, become India’s 13^th prime minister. The present governor is Raghuram Rajan, who took over from D. Subbarao on 4 September 2013.

It will be highly useful for your exams if you know the complete list of RBI Governors. Here is the list of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governors along with their joining and leaving dates.

S.No	Name	Term of office
1	Sir Osborne Smith	1 April 1935 – 30 June 1937
2	Sir James Braid Taylor	1 July 1937 – 17 February 1943
3	Sir C. D. Deshmukh	11 August 1943 – 30 June 1949
4	Sir Benegal Rama Rau	1 July 1949 – 14 January 1957
5	K. G. Ambegaonkar	14 January 1957 – 28 February 1957
6	H. V. R. Iyengar	1 March 1957 – 28 February 1962
7	P. C. Bhattacharya	1 March 1962 – 30 June 1967
8	L. K. Jha	1 July 1967 – 3 May 1970
9	B. N. Adarkar	4 May 1970 – 15 June 1970
10	S. Jagannathan	16 June 1970 – 19 May 1975
11	N. C. Sen Gupta	19 May 1975 – 19 August 1975
12	K. R. Puri	20 August 1975 – 2 May 1977
13	M. Narasimham	2 May 1977 – 30 November 1977
14	Dr. I. G. Patel	1 December 1977 – 15 September 1982
15	Dr. Manmohan Singh	16 September 1982 – 14 January 1985
16	A. Ghosh	15 January 1985 – 4 February 1985
17	R. N. Malhotra	4 February 1985 – 22 December 1990
18	S. Venkitaramanan	22 December 1990 – 21 December 1992
19	Dr. C. Rangarajan	22 December 1992 – 21 November 1997
20	Dr. Bimal Jalan	22 November 1997 – 6 September 2003
21	Dr. Y. V. Reddy	6 September 2003 – 5 September 2008
22	Dr. D. Subbarao	6 September 2008 – 3 September 2013
23	Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan	4 September 2013 – Present

Functions & Duties of RBI Governor are as follows.

(Note: Whenever we say “He” in the below points, it means the office of RBI governor.)

1. He plays a significant role in formulating the policies of RBI. RBI is responsible for maintaining the financial stability in economic issues in the country.
2. Every note issued by RBI contains his signature.
3. RBI governor’s office controls the country’s monetary, currency and credit systems.
4. He is the final authority responsible for issuing licenses to open new private and foreign banks.
5. He has a central role in regulating and administering the financial system of the nation.
6. He heads an institution which is the sole authority for issuing bank notes. He supervises and administers exchange control and banking regulations.
7. The governor of the RBI managed the foreign exchange management Act, 1999 which is to facilitate external trade and payment and to promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India.
8. The RBI governor is further responsible for monitoring the issue and destruction of currency and coins which are not fit for circulation in public. He oversees if the adequate quantity of currency notes and coins are supplied and are of good quality.
9. He is responsible for leading and supervising primary co-operative banks.
10. He also has a part to play in monitoring and facilitating the flow of credit to rural, agricultural and various small scale industries sectors. He is also responsible for framing policies on priority sector and supporting the agriculture banks.
11. He monitors the implementation of government-sponsored poverty alleviation schemes.
12. He plays a key role in helping promote functions to support national objectives.
13. He has to review rules and regulations continually to make the measures/financial programs of RBI customer friendly.

If you want clarification for any doubts, please use the comments section below. Also please let us know if you have suggestions or corrections.