Arundhati Bhattacharya, Vinod Rai, KV Kamath among potential successors to Raghuram Rajan

NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: Recently retired bureaucrats, bankers, old Reserve Bank of India hands and some leading economists are in the fray to succeed Raghuram Rajan as governor.

Rajan said on the weekend he would be returning to academics after his three-year stint ends in September.

Among the long list of former bureaucrats said to be in the running are recently retired finance secretaries Ratan Wattal and Sumit Bose, their predecessor and recently retired chairman of the Competition Commission of India Ashok Chawla and Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, who was rural development secretary.

Vinod Rai, who currently heads the Bank Board Bureau, is also a strong contender though there may be some issue with him holding such a post after heading the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Among bankers, the strongest contender is said to be State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya. Career banker KV Kamath, who currently heads the newly established BRICS bank, also has strong credentials for the job. Among economists, NITI Aayog head Arvind Panagaria is believed to be in the reckoning.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley has said a successor to Rajan will be announced soon.

A senior official told ET that the preference this time could be for a bureaucrat instead of a high-profile economist as the economy is doing fine with the external sector in good health and going forward a monetary policy committee will guide the rate regime.

The RBI governor is appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the finance minister in what is usually a closely guarded process.

There is no age limit for the post, so the list of potential candidates can be long. Former RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn, currently an executive director at the International Monetary Fund, could also be considered along with another former deputy governor Rakesh Mohan. Among serving RBI deputy governors, Urjit Patel is believed to be in the reckoning.

The immediate challenge before the new governor would be to guide the ongoing cleanup of banks saddled with record nonperforming assets and keeping inflation under check.