RBI advisor G Darbha dies due to heart attack

Algorithmic trade specialist Gangadhar Darbha, who joined RBI as a consultant only last week, passed away today following cardiac arrest while at work at the central bank's headquarters here.

He was 45 and had joined RBI as a consultant only on September 1.

Darbha collapsed in the office this morning and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead, a source said.

He had joined the central bank from Japanese brokerage Nomura Securities, where he was an Executive Director.

The Reserve Bank has been traditionally averse to sophisticated financial products, and the appointment of Darbha -- which was for a year according to media reports -- was seen as a move to opening up to such products under Governor Raghuram Rajan.

After completing his doctorate at RBI's Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research, Darbha had studied at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

This was followed by stints at investment banks, including Morgan Stanley (as an associate) and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, where he was a director and head of global algorithmic solutions, according to his page on professional networking site LinkedIn.

After this, he joined Nomura in the financial capital.

The appointment of Darbha was done after inviting applications for financial market professionals to be empanelled as consultants in June.

RBI had issued an advertisement to fill the post which eventually went to Darbha.

"The person would 'study' the inter-linkages between currency futures market and interest rate futures market and the non-deliverable markets overseas with an added responsibility of 'development' of the term money market, corporate bond market, swaps market, and secondary market in government securities," said the RBI advertisement.