RBI Governors List from 1935 to 2026: Name, Eligibility, Powers, Tenure
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- RBI Governors List from 1935 to 2026
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the Central Bank of India. It is responsible to govern the monetary policy of the country. RBI was established on 1st April 1935 under the RBI Act, 1934 and was formed with the recommendation of “Hilton - Young Commission”. It was initially established as a privately owned bank and was nationalised on 1st January 1949 after the independence of India. RBI is headquartered in Mumbai, but initially, it was located in Kolkata and shifted to Mumbai in 1937.
The Government of India appoints the head of the RBI, who is referred to as the governor. So far RBI has had 25 governors. Osborne Smith was the first governor of RBI in 1935 and Shaktikanta Das is the current governor of RBI. One of the major responsibilities that the RBI holds is to form a monetary policy.
RBI consists of the following members:
➤ One- Governor
➤ Four- Deputy Governor
➤ Fourteen- Directors
➤ Two- Government Officers
RBI Governors List from 1935 to 2026
Since its beginning, the RBI has been headed by distinguished economists, civil servants, and financial experts who have shaped India’s monetary policy and banking system. Below is the complete list of RBI Governors from 1935 to 2026:
| RBI Governors Names | Time Period 1935-2026 |
| Sir Osborne Smith | April 1, 1935 – June 30, 1937 |
| Sir James Braid Taylor | July 1, 1937 – February 17, 1943 |
| Sir C.D. Deshmukh | August 11, 1943 – June 30, 1949 |
| Sir Bengal Rama Rau | July 1, 1949 – January 14, 1957 |
| K.G. Ambegaonkar | January 14, 1957 – February 28, 1957 |
| H.V.R Lyengar | March 1, 1957 – February 28, 1962 |
| P.C Bhattacharya | March 1, 1962 – June 30, 1967 |
| L.K. Jha | July 1, 1967 – May 3, 1970 |
| B.N. Adarkar | May 4, 1970 – June 15, 1970 |
| S. Jagannathan | June 16, 1970 – May 19, 1975 |
| N.C. Sen Gupta | May 19, 1975 – August 19, 1975 |
| K.R. Puri | August 20, 1975 – May 2, 1977 |
| M. Narasimham | May 3, 1977 – November 30, 1977 |
| I.G. Patel | December 1, 1977 – September 15, 1982 |
| Manmohan Singh | September 16, 1982 – January 14, 1985 |
| Amitav Gosh | January 15, 1985 – September 4, 1985 |
| R.N. Malhotra | February 4, 1985 – December 22, 1990 |
| S. Vpnldraramanan | December 22, 1990 – December 21, 1992 |
| C. Rangarajan | December 22, 1992 – November 21, 1997 |
| Bimal Jalan | November 22, 1997 – September 6, 2003 |
| Y.V. Reddy | September 6, 2003 – September 5, 2008 |
| D. Subbarao | September 5, 2008 – September 4, 2013 |
| Raghuram G. Raj an | September 4, 2013 – September 4, 2016 |
| Urjit Ravindra Patel | September 4, 2016 – December 10,2018 |
| Shaktikanta Das | December 12, 2018 – to date |
Shaktikanta Das continues to serve as the RBI Governor in 2026.
RBI Governor Powers
The RBI Governors carry many powers. We can understand them with the help of the following points:
➤ Banker’s banker
➤ Heads all the commercial banks
➤ Influence on micro and macro economies
➤ Control over the stock market
➤ Signatures on currency notes
➤ Control over the monetary, currency and credit system
RBI Governors Eligibility
Initially, RBI Governors were a part of the Indian Civil services like C D Deshmukh, Bengal Rama Rao, etc., but any individual who holds a Graduate degree/ Post Graduate/ Chartered Accountant can become a Governor of RBI, provided that he has worked in any of the following institutions:
➤ IMF/ World Bank.
➤ Chairman or General Manager of a Bank.
➤ Reputed Financial or Banking organisation.
➤ Ministry of Finance (GOI)
Other than the above any citizen who is 35 years or above is eligible. He must not be a member of the Parliament/State Legislature, and he must not hold any other office for profit.
RBI Governors Appointment
The Governor of RBI is not appointed by the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) on the recommendation of the Union Finance Minister.
RBI Governors Tenure
The tenure of an RBI governor as specified in the constitution is three years; however, it can be extended for two more years. The Governor can be terminated in two cases and they are as follows:
➤ If dismissed by the President.
➤ Resignation is submitted by the Governor to the President.
RBI Governors Responsibilities
Here are some duties which are generally performed by the RBI Governors.
➤ The RBI governors are responsible for maintaining monetary stability in an economy. Thus, plays an important role in formulating the policies of the Reserve Bank of India.
➤ The responsibility for issuing licenses to open new foreign and private banks is also headed by the governor of RBI.
➤ The power to control the interest rates on advances and deposits of the country is vested in the governors. However, the scope of this power is limited to prescribing minimum lending rates and interest rates on savings accounts.
➤ The financial system of the nation is regulated and administered by the Governor, and he only sets the parameters within which the whole financial system functions.
➤ The Governor of RBI manages the external trade and payment, also promotes orderly development and maintenance of the foreign exchange market in India, which comes under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
➤ Monitoring of adequate quantities of currency notes and coins supply in the country and the issuance and destruction of currency not fit for circulation in public.
➤ RBI Governor also keeps a check on rules and regulations to make them more customer-friendly.
➤ Through Urban Bank Departments RBI governor leads and supervises primary co-operative banks.
➤ Furthermore, RBI Governor also has a part to play in facilitating and monitoring the flow of credit to small-scale industries, rural, and agricultural sectors. The responsibility for regulating state co-operative banks, regional rural banks, and various local area banks.
The RBI Governors perform many more functions as the central bank of India.
Aspirants of Government exams or any other competitive exams must be well aware of the list of RBI Governors and the time duration they have served the organisation. This topic holds relevance for the general awareness section of all types of competitive exams and for the Polity section in the exams.