In a departure, Cabinet Secretary to take interview for RBI deputy governor

MUMBAI: In a departure from the past, government has asked the Cabinet Secretary to head the panel for interview of a new deputy governor of the Reserve Bank tomorrow to find a replacement for H R Khan.

The interview, at the central bank headquarters here on Monday, is to be conducted by a panel headed by Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha.

The vacancy is being created by the superannuation of Khan who is due to retire on July 7 as he turns 62.

As per the established practice, the interview panel for the appointment of deputy governors had always been headed by the RBI Governor. Rajan had headed the panel as early as this January that gave a three-year extension to Urjit Patel.

"The committee will include Governor Raghuram Rajan, an additional secretary from PMO and three-four academics and will be headed by the Cabinet Secretary," sources told PTI.

The move comes at a time when there is a shrill clamour from certain quarters of the ruling BJP against any extension to Rajan, whose own current three-year tenure ends this September.

Khan, who was promoted from within the ranks, was appointed as a deputy governor in July 2011, and reappointed in 2014 for two more years.

Khan is incharge of the financial markets, internal debt management departments, foreign management among others at the central bank.

The central bank has four deputy governors- two from within the ranks the other being Rahul Gandhi and one commercial banker SS Mundra and an economist to head the monetary policy department (Urjit Patel, who was given a three-year extension in January after his first three-year term).

The third rung of RBI management includes 11 executive directors and all have been called for the interview.

Some of the senior EDs include Deepak Mohanty, who is the senior most, Michael Patra, Deepali Pant Joshi, NS Vishwanathan, Chandan Sinha among others.