FinMin yet to get proposal on Anand Sinha's extension

Amid the growing buzz that Anand Sinha, a deputy governor (DG) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) looking after the new bank licence process, could continue as officer on special duty after his tenure ends later this month, a top finance ministry official said North Block had not received any proposal on this from the central bank.

Sinha (63) is to retire on January 18 after completing 37 years in RBI, including three years as deputy governor.

"We have not received any proposal officially from RBI. Once we do, we would consider it," said a top ministry official.

Sinha was appointed a DG in January 2011 for a period of two years and last year his term was extended by another eleven months. An exception was made in Sinha's case, by relaxing the retirement age criteria, following a request from the RBI governor, as Sinha was in the process of finalising the guidelines for new bank licences.

To be eligible for becoming a deputy governor, a person needs to be below 60 years. According to norms, a deputy governor can be appointed till the age of 62 or for a period of five years, whichever is earlier.

Sinha's team at the department of banking development and operations is currently scrutinising 25 applications for bank licence. The government has already started a search for Sinha's successor. A four-member panel, headed by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, has interviewed all nine executive directors of RBI.

Even if Sinha continues as an officer on special duty, the government will announce the name of his successor.

The official said though there could be a delay of 5-10 days in deciding on the new deputy governor, a replacement would be announced shortly after Sinha retires.

RBI has four deputy governors. Traditionally, two of them are promoted from within the ranks of RBI, another is an economist and the fourth is from commercial banks. The other deputy governors at present are K C Chakrabarty, H R Khan and Urijit Patel. Chakrabarty, who was a commercial banker, will retire in June 2014, after completing five years in RBI.