A Cabinet secretary-headed panel on Thursday (June 1) interviewed five candidates, including a non-executive chairman of a public sector bank, for the post of RBI deputy governor.
The candidates in fray Include J. Swaminathan, Managing Director of SBI; V. Srinivasan, Chairman of Union Bank; A.S. Rajeev, Managing Director and CEO of Bank of Maharashtra; Shanti Lal Jain, Managing Director of Indian Bank and Soma Sankara Prasad, Managing Director of UCO Bank.
The post will fall vacant on June 21 after M.K. Jain completes his extended tenure.
The Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee (FSRASC) headed by Cabinet secretary interviewed candidates in Delhi. Besides the Cabinet secretary, other members of FSRASC include the RBI governor, the financial services secretary, and two independent members.
The selected person from the interview will be sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, for final approval. This vacancy for the RBI deputy governor’s post has been reserved for a commercial banker.
According to the RBI Act of 1934, the central bank should have four deputy governors — two from within the ranks, one commercial banker, and an economist to head the monetary policy department.
Currently, the RBI has four deputy governors — M.K. Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao, and T. Rabi Sankar.
The deputy governor appointments are initially made for a period of three years, and the person is eligible for reappointment. The deputy governor gets a fixed salary of Rs 2.25 lakh per month plus allowances.
