NS Vishwanathan appointed RBI deputy governor

NEW DELHI: NS Vishwanathan has been appointed as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, replacing H R Khan who will retire next week.

Vishwanathan, currently Executive Director at the central bank, was chosen by a search committee headed by Cabinet Secretary - the first appointment to be done through this panel.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved of Vishwanathan's appointment, 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.

He will replace Harun R Khan, who will superannuate on July 7 on turning 62.

All appointments of Deputy Governors to RBI were previously done by a panel headed by RBI Governor. But for the first time, a Deputy Governor's appointment has been made through recommendations of the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha. This panel included RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan.

Rajan had headed the panel as early as this January that gave 3-year extension to Urjit Patel.

Khan, who is in-charge of the financial markets, internal debt management departments, foreign management among others at the central bank, was appointed as a deputy governor in July 2011 and reappointed in 2014 for two more years.

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

Prior to his being appointed as Executive Director in April 2014, Vishwanathan was Principal Chief General Manager in the Department of non-banking supervision at Reserve Bank of India.

He has also served as Chief General Manager of Vigilance at IFCI Ltd, Delhi-based government owned finance company.

Executive directors, 11 in all, are the third rung in the RBI hierarchy.