RBI's New Deputy Governor: Swaminathan Janakiraman

State Bank of India’s MD Swaminathan Janakiraman has been appointed as the new deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a tenure of 3 years from the joining date. The Indian government approved the appointment of Swaminathan as the incumbent Mahesh Kumar Jain’s tenure ends on June 22.

Mahesh Kumar Jain was appointed as a deputy governor in June 2018 for three years. He was re-appointed in June 2021 for a further two-year period. Jain is in charge of the department of Supervision, financial inclusion and development, consumer education and protection, among others, 

About Swaminathan Janakiraman: 

• Swaminathan Janakiraman currently holds the position of Managing Director at the State Bank of India (SBI), where he oversees the Corporate Banking and Subsidiaries division.
• Previously, he was responsible for the bank’s Assurance functions, which included Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance, and Stressed Assets verticals.
• According to his LinkedIn profile, Janakiraman is a seasoned banker with expertise in various areas such as Retail and Corporate Banking, International Banking, Trade Finance, Correspondent Banking & FI products, Digital Banking, and Transaction Banking products.
• He has played a crucial role in the Finance function of SBI, overseeing budgeting and performance monitoring, Capital Planning, and Investor Relations. Additionally, he has been involved in the bank’s Digital Transformation journey as the Head of the Digital Banking vertical.
• Janakiraman has also served as a nominee director of SBI on the boards of Yes Bank, Jio Payments Bank, and NPCI. Furthermore, he has represented SBI as a director in the Bank of Bhutan, a joint venture of SBI.

Deputy governors 

The deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India is the second most senior executive of the Reserve Bank of India after its governor. Since its establishment in 1934 by the government of India, the RBI has had 63 deputy governors. The term of office typically runs for three years and can, in some cases, be extended for another two years.

The inaugural officeholder was James Braid Taylor, while K J Udeshi holds the unique distinction of becoming the first female deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Currently, there are four incumbent deputy governors of the Reserve Bank of India.

Currently, RBI is run by four deputy governors in addition to a Governor. The RBI Governor is the all in all of the RBI but he is assisted by 4 other Deputy Governors in his/her functions.

Governor of the Reserve Bank of India is the ex-officio Chairperson of the Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI. On June 24, 2019, the Deputy Governor of the RBI Viral Acharya resigned (unofficial) from his post and planning to join his academic work at “New York University Stern School of Business (NYU Stern)”.

Viral Acharya was appointed as the RBI deputy governor by the government on January 23, 2017, for a three-year term. Former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Acharya was in charge of Monetary Policy Committee member.

Now there are just four Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. They are;

1. Shri N. S. Vishwanathan

2. Shri B.P. Kanungo

3. Shri M. K. Jain

4. Shri Swaminathan Janakiraman