India's
central bank governor Raghuram Rajan stunned government officials and investors
on Saturday by announcing he would step down when his term ends on Sept. 4.
Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley said the government would name a successor soon and a
senior official told Reuters there were currently seven names on a list of
possible candidates.
Here is
some background on the candidates seen as potential successors to Rajan at the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI):
URJIT
PATEL:
One
of the RBI's four deputy governors, Patel, 52, was reappointed in January for
another three years. He has run the central bank's monetary policy department
since 2013 and is viewed as a leading contender for the governor's job.
Seen
as a close lieutenant to Rajan, Patel headed a committee that introduced
landmark changes including a switch to inflation-targeting and adopting
consumer prices as the new benchmark instead of wholesale prices. The changes
he helped drive are considered to be among the most significant monetary policy
reforms since India opened up its economy in 1991.
Patel,
whose remit at the RBI included managing money markets, has faced criticism
from market participants, however, with some traders and bankers complaining
that he kept liquidity tight at a time when the RBI was lowering rates,
starving banks of cash.
ARUNDHATI
BHATTACHARYA:
A
high-profile banker, Bhattacharya has been at the helm of India's largest
lender -- State Bank of India (SBI.NS)
--
since late 2013 and has earned praise from investors for her management of the
bank's mountain of bad debt. She was named in the Forbes list of world's 100 most
powerful women.
Bhattacharya,
60, whose term as the chair at State Bank of India ends later this year, is
perceived as another front runner in the race.
She
was reportedly among the candidates interviewed to head India's capital markets
regulator before the government made a last-minute decision to extend the term
of the incumbent. She has spent her entire career in the banking sector and
never held any policy roles.
RAKESH
MOHAN:
Mohan,
68, had two stints as a deputy governor of the RBI. He also served as secretary
at the department of economic affairs at the Indian government's finance
ministry and held positions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Mohan
was in charge of monetary policy, financial markets, economic research and
statistics at the RBI.
SUBIR
GOKARN:
Gokarn,
56, also a former deputy RBI governor, currently serves as an executive
director at the IMF. He looked after monetary policy during his three years at
the central bank until the end of 2012.
ASHOK
LAHIRI:
Lahiri,
64, a former chief economic adviser to the Indian government, also served the
Asian Development Bank as an executive director.
He
is the non-executive chairman of Bandhan Bank, one of India's newest lenders.
ASHOK
CHAWLA:
Chawla,
65, was last month appointed as the chair of the National Stock Exchange,
India's biggest bourse. He stepped down as chairman of Competition Commission
of India earlier this year.
He
has been a civil servant for most of his career, and has served on the board of
the Reserve Bank of India. He has also been a director for state-run Oil and
Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.NS).
VIJAY
KELKAR:
The
74-year-old economist has held several positions with the Indian government,
including as a finance secretary.
He
has authored several reports for the government, most recently writing about
reviving public-private partnerships for infrastructure projects. Kelkar
chalked out a fiscal consolidation roadmap under the previous government.
Representative
Image
Source: Reuters
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