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Informist, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025

 

--Source: Govt panel to meet next week to select new RBI deputy governor 

--CONTEXT: RBI Deputy Governor Patra's term scheduled to end on Tue

 

By Priyasmita Dutta

 

NEW DELHI – A top government panel consisting of Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra, Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan, and Department of Financial Services Secretary M. Nagaraju is likely to meet on Tuesday or Wednesday to screen top contenders for the position of deputy governor of the central bank, a senior finance ministry official said Friday. The government has been looking for a new deputy governor, with Deputy Governor Michael Patra's term set to end on Tuesday. 

 

The senior officials, along with a few other members of the panel, will meet at the RBI headquarters in Mumbai, the official told Informist on the condition of anonymity, adding that more than six to seven candidates would be screened for the position. "With so many candidates, it is going to be a day-long programme," the official said.

 

The Indian central bank currently has four deputies to Governor Sanjay Malhotra – Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao, T. Rabi Sankar, and Swaminathan J. The government had given Patra, first named deputy governor in January 2020, a second extension of a year in January 2024.

 

Patra, the deputy governor in charge of the monetary policy department, has been one of the three representatives of the RBI on the Monetary Policy Committee ever since the rate-setting panel came into being in October 2016. Before his elevation to the post of deputy governor, Patra was a member of the committee as an officer of the central bank nominated by its Central Board of Directors.

 

A new deputy governor in charge of the monetary policy department would mean another change in the composition of the MPC, with the change of governor in December after former central bank top boss Shaktikanta Das' term ended, and the committee getting three new external members after the four-year terms of Ashima Goyal, Shashanka Bhide, and Jayanth Varma ended in October. The three new external members on the rate-setting panel are Delhi School of Economics Director Ram Singh, economist Saugata Bhattacharya, and Institute for Studies in Industrial Development Director and Chief Executive Nagesh Kumar.

 

According to the Nov. 4 newspaper advertisement inviting applications for the post of RBI deputy governor, the candidate should not be more than 60 years old as of next Wednesday, and should have at least 25 years of experience in public administration or in an Indian or international public financial institution. Persons of "exceptional merit and track record at the national or international level" may also apply.  End

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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