The Centre on Tuesday appointed State Bank of India (SBI) Managing Director Swaminathan Jankiraman as Deputy Governor (DG) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). According to an official notification, the appointment is for a period of three years from the date of joining the post of Deputy Governor or until further order.
A Cabinet Secretary-headed panel interviewed shortlisted candidates on June 1 for the post of the RBI Deputy Governor in place of MK Jain, completing his extended tenure on Tuesday. One post of Deputy Governor is reserved for a commercial banker.
According to the RBI Act, 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. The other three deputy governors are Michael Debabrata Patra, M Rajeshwar Rao, and T Rabi Sankar.
It is for the first time in more than 20 years that a managing director of SBI has been appointed as RBI deputy governor. Vepa Kamesam was the last SBI managing director to be appointed RBI deputy governor (July 1, 2001 to September 23, 2003).
Janakiraman will have a three-year tenure as deputy governor, with effect from his taking charge.
The deputy governor appointments are made for an initial 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.
The next date for the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting is scheduled for August 8 to 10.
In the last MPC in June, the MPC, headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced to keep policy rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent. This was second time in a row that the RBI opted for a pause in rate hike. The central bank has retained growth projection at 6.5 per cent for FY24, expects 8 per cent growth in Q1, 6.5 per cent in Q2, 6 per cent in Q3, while 5.7 per cent in Q4.