RBI Dy Governor portfolio reshuffle: M Rajeshwar Rao to be in charge of MPC, T Rabi Sankar gets financial market ops | Mint

RBI Dy Governor portfolio reshuffle: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the portfolio duty rejig of its three remaining deputy governors on Tuesday, January 14, with the retirement of Dr Micheal Debabrata Patra, RBI’s senior-most deputy governor. Dr Patra’s term will end on January 15.

According to the central bank’s latest duty allocation, M Rajeshwar Rao will take charge of the Department of Monetary Policy, which Dr Patra earlier headed. The portfolio rejig comes ahead of the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on February 5-7. The central bank has allocated the financial markets operations department to T Rabi Sankar.

The central said that the distribution of portfolios among the deputy governors will be effective Wednesday, January 15, 2025. Rao will head the MPC department, along with the Department of Economic and Policy Research, among others. Sankar will head the fintech department and financial market regulations, among a few others. RBI’s new Governor, Sanjay Malhotra, will unveil his first monetary policy verdict on February 7, 2025.

The government decided against offering a third extension to Dr Patra for another year. A career central banker, the veteran monetary economist previously received two extensions after his original term ended in January 2023. The central bank has four deputy governors. Two are promoted from within, while the other are typically commercial bankers and economists.

In 2023, the central government extended M Rajeshwar Rao’s term as the RBI’s Deputy Governor by one year. The re-appointment was approved by the Cabinet’s Appointments Committee. Initially, Rao was appointed as the RBI Deputy Governor in October 2020 for a period of three years.

“The central government has re-appointed shri M Rajeshwar Rao as Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, for a period of one year with effect from October 9, 2023, of until further orders, whichever is earlier,” RBI had said in a statement in 2023.