Vishwanathan appointed RBI deputy governor

N S Vishwanathan is being appointed as a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), replacing H R Khan, who will retire next week. Vishwanathan, currently executive director, was chosen by a search committee headed by the Cabinet secretary, the first appointment to be done through this panel.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved, an official source said.

A formal order of his appointment will be issued soon, he said.

When contacted, Vishwanathan said he has not got any formal appointment letter yet and has only heard of the news through media. All appointments of deputy governors to RBI were previously done by a panel headed by the governor. For the first time this has been made through recommendations of the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee, headed by the Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha. This panel included RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan. Rajan had headed the panel as early as this January that gave a three-year extension to Urjit Patel, another deputy governor.

Khan, in-charge of the financial markets, internal debt management and foreign management department was appointed as a deputy governor in July 2011 and reappointed in 2014.

The central bank has four deputy governors — two from within the ranks (the other being R Gandhi), a former commercial banker (S S Mundra) and an economist to head the monetary policy department (Urjit Patel).

Prior to being appointed as executive director in April 2014, Vishwanathan was principal chief general manager in the department of non-banking supervision. He has also served as chief general manager of vigilance at IFCI Ltd, a Delhi-based government-owned finance company.