| 1 |
Sir Osborne Smith |
1 April 1935 |
30 June 1937 |
2 years, 90 days |
British banker, resigned early. |
| 2 |
Sir James Braid Taylor |
1 July 1937 |
17 February 1943 |
5 years, 231 days |
Oversaw wartime transition to fiat money; died in office. |
| 3 |
Sir C. D. Deshmukh |
11 August 1943 |
30 June 1949 |
5 years, 323 days |
First Indian governor; managed partition and division of assets. |
| 4 |
Sir Benegal Rama Rau |
1 July 1949 |
14 January 1957 |
7 years, 197 days |
Resigned before completing term; served as Indian ambassador to the U.S. |
| 5 |
K. G. Ambegaonkar |
14 January 1957 |
28 February 1957 |
45 days |
Interim governor post-Rama Rau; former Finance Secretary. |
| 6 |
H. V. R. Iengar |
1 March 1957 |
28 February 1962 |
4 years, 364 days |
Oversaw decimal coinage; former chairman of the State Bank of India. |
| 7 |
P. C. Bhattacharya |
1 March 1962 |
30 June 1967 |
5 years, 121 days |
Former chairman of the State Bank of India. |
| 8 |
Lakshmi Kant Jha |
1 July 1967 |
3 May 1970 |
2 years, 306 days |
Former secretary to the PM; later Indian ambassador to the U.S. |
| 9 |
B. N. Adarkar |
4 May 1970 |
15 June 1970 |
42 days |
Interim governor; former economic advisor to the government. |
| 10 |
Sarukkai Jagannathan |
16 June 1970 |
19 May 1975 |
4 years, 337 days |
Former World Bank executive director; represented India at the IMF. |
| 11 |
N. C. Sen Gupta |
19 May 1975 |
19 August 1975 |
92 days |
Interim governor; served in the Banking Department of the Ministry of Finance. |
| 12 |
K. R. Puri |
20 August 1975 |
2 May 1977 |
1 year, 255 days |
Oversaw formation of regional rural banks; former chairman of LIC. |
| 13 |
M. Narasimham |
3 May 1977 |
30 November 1977 |
211 days |
Former RBI research officer; served in the Department of Economic Affairs. |
| 14 |
I. G. Patel |
1 December 1977 |
15 September 1982 |
4 years, 288 days |
Oversaw demonetisation of high-value currency notes. |
| 15 |
Manmohan Singh |
16 September 1982 |
14 January 1985 |
2 years, 120 days |
Introduced legal banking reforms; later became India’s Prime Minister. |
| 16 |
Amitav Ghosh |
15 January 1985 |
4 February 1985 |
20 days |
Interim governor until R. N. Malhotra’s appointment. |
| 17 |
R. N. Malhotra |
4 February 1985 |
22 December 1990 |
5 years, 321 days |
Inaugurated the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. |
| 18 |
S. Venkitaramanan |
22 December 1990 |
21 December 1992 |
1 year, 365 days |
Managed India’s IMF stabilisation program during economic crisis. |
| 19 |
C. Rangarajan |
22 December 1992 |
21 November 1997 |
4 years, 334 days |
Established unified exchange rate; former deputy governor of RBI. |
| 20 |
Bimal Jalan |
22 November 1997 |
6 September 2003 |
5 years, 288 days |
Maintained low inflation and interest rates. |
| 21 |
Y. V. Reddy |
6 September 2003 |
5 September 2008 |
4 years, 365 days |
Contributed to financial sector reforms; focused on external borrowings. |
| 22 |
D. Subbarao |
5 September 2008 |
4 September 2013 |
4 years, 364 days |
Authored works on decentralisation and public finance. |
| 23 |
Raghuram Rajan |
4 September 2013 |
4 September 2016 |
3 years |
Former Chief Economic Advisor; emphasised financial reforms. |
| 24 |
Urjit Patel |
4 September 2016 |
10 December 2018 |
2 years, 98 days |
Oversaw demonetisation; resigned citing personal reasons. |
| 25 |
Shaktikanta Das |
12 December 2018 |
10 December 2024 |
6 years |
Former Revenue Secretary; served in the 15th Finance Commission. |
| 26 |
Sanjay Malhotra |
11 December 2024 |
Present |
Present |
Former Revenue Secretary and Financial Services Secretary. |
