Rajeshwar Rao Appointed RBI Deputy Governor

The government has finalised the appointment of M Rajeshwar Rao as the fourth deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India. The post has been empty since NS Vishwanathan stepped down in March, three months before his term ended, citing health reasons.

Rao is currently executive director at the RBI.

He joined the central bank in 1984 and has served across most divisions. He has previously held charge of the risk monitoring department and worked across regional offices at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai and New Delhi. He was appointed executive director in 2016 and currently handles financial market operations and internal debt management.

With Rao’s appointment, the RBI now has a full top deck of executives. Other deputy governors include Michael Patra, BP Kanungo and MK Jain. Rao’s portfolio will be detailed by the RBI but he is likely to take charge of the financial markets regulation division that Vishwanathan was handling before he stepped down.