KR Kamath leads race to succeed KC Chakrabarty as RBI Deputy Governor

MUMBAI: Punjab National Bank chairman KR Kamath, and Bank of India chairperson VR Iyer are among the top probables to succeed KC Chakrabarty as the deputy governor at the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI), said a person familiar with the matter.

The two were among the nine interviewed by a panel headed by RBI governor Raghuram Rajan which also consisted of Rajiv Takru, former financial services secretary.

SS Mundra of Bank of Baroda, Arun Kaul of UCO Bank, SC Bansal of Oriental Bank of Commerce, TM Bhasin of Indian Bank, Ashwani Kumar of Dena Bank, M Narendra of Indian Overseas Bank and RK Dubey of Canara Bank were among the candidates.

The deputy governor slot fell vacant three months ahead of the scheduled date since Chakarabarty had decided to call it a day ahead of his retirement date. Of the four deputy governors, one slot is reserved for a professional banker. Nachiket Mor, a former executive director at ICICI Bank was tipped to be the successor since Rajan favoured him, but the government put its foot down to keep the position for someone from the state-run bank.

The panel called those chiefs who have been heading a bank for more than a year. Kamath, being the senior-most among the nine bankers, is the front-runner for the post, PTI quoted an unnamed official as saying. But any candidate shortlisted by the panel should also get a clean chit from the Central Vigilance Commission. In this era of many anonymous complaints, some could find it difficult.

PNB chairman and managing director Kamath is the senior-most among all the nine bankers with experience of about 6 years.

The search panel will now recommend the name to the government for approval. Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, will take a final view on the recommendation.