Five public sector bankers in fray for RBI dy guv's job

The Union government has decided to have five bankers, all from public sector lenders, interviewed for a deputy governor’s job at the Reserve Bank of India. Among the four such posts, one becomes vacant in June with K C Chakrabarty's retirement; he came from the same route.

K R Kamath, chairman and managing director (CMD) of Punjab National Bank; Vijayalakshmi Iyer, CMD of Bank of India; S S Mundra, CMD of Bank of Baroda; R K Dubey, CMD, Canara Bank; and M Narendra, CMD, Indian Overseas Bank, will appear for the interview, at the end of the month.

Kamath has been a CMD the longest among these five; he was head of Allahabad Bank from August 2008 before his present charge from October 2009 at the Delhi-based lender. He is also chairman of the Indian Banks’ Association.

Iyer took charge of Bank of India in November 2012 and was earlier an executive director of Central Bank of India. Mundra was an ED of Union Bank of India and became Bank of Baroda’s head in January 2013. Narendra took charge of the Chennai-based lender in November 2010. He was ED at Bank of India before his present role. R K Dubey was made Canara Bank’s head in January 2013 and was an ED in Central Bank of India earlier.

A search committee headed by the RBI governor is typically formed to interview the candidates, also comprising eminent professors at management institutes and senior finance ministry officials.

The government has ignored RBI’s earlier recommendation of broadbasing the eligibility criteria by including bankers from the private sector.

A deputy governor can be appointed for a maximum of five years or till the age of 62. A candidate has to be below 60 years to be eligible. However, there have been instances when the criteria were relaxed.

Traditionally, among the four RBI deputy governors, two are promoted from within its ranks, one is an economist and the fourth a commercial banker. Apart from Chakrabarty, the other deputy governors are H R Khan and Urjit Patel. The governor is yet to announce a replacement for Anand Sinha, who retired in January (he came from within RBI). Khan’s three-year tenure ends in July, though he will be eligible for extension.