S S Mundra set to be deputy governor of Reserve bank of India

NEW DELHI: Bank of Baroda chairman and managing director S S Mundra is set to take over as the fourth deputy governor of the Reserve bank of India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared his appointment days before he is due to superannuate.

Sources said formal orders will be issued within a couple of days. Mundra was the junior-most among the nine candidates interviewed for the job several months ago but his appointment was delayed due to a change of guard at the Centre as well as controversy surrounding his candidature.

The 60-year-old banker is a Bank of Baroda veteran, where he had started his career as a probationary officer, and did a short stint at Union Bank of India, where he was executive director. In a rare move, he returned as the CMD of his parent bank and was seen as a surprise choice for the coveted regulatory job. In fact, Mundra would have never offered this assignment had it not been for K C Chakrabarty's decision to step down before the end of his term as RBI deputy governor.

At present, RBI has three deputy governors — H R Khan, Urijit Patel and R Gandhi. While Khan and Gandhi are career regulators, Patel is an economist.