The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the chief executive of India’s central bank and the ex-officio chairperson of its Central Board of Directors. Indian Rupee currency notes, issued by the RBI, bear the governor’s signature. Since its establishment in 1935 by the British colonial government, the RBI has been headed by 23 governors.

The inaugural officeholder was the Britisher Sir Osborne Smith, while C. D. Deshmukhwas the first Indian governor. The bank’s 15th governor, Manmohan Singh, would go on to become India’s 13th prime minister. The position is currently held by Raghuram Rajan, who took over from D. Subbarao on 4 September 2013.

Sr. No. Name Tenure
1 Sir Osborne Smith 1 April 1935 “ 30 June 1937
2 Sir James Braid Taylor 1 July 1937 “ 17 February 1943
3 Sir C. D. Deshmukh 11 August 1943 “ 30 June 1949
4 Sir Benegal Rama Rau 1 July 1949 “ 14 January 1957
5 K. G. Ambegaonkar 14 January 1957 “ 28 February 1957
6 H. V. R. Iyengar 1 March 1957 “ 28 February 1962
7 P. C. Bhattacharya 1 March 1962 – 30 June 1967
8 L. K. Jha 1 July 1967 “ 3 May 1970
9 B. N. Adarkar 4 May 1970 “ 15 June 1970
10 S. Jagannathan 16 June 1970 “ 19 May 1975
11 N. C. Sen Gupta 19 May 1975 “ 19 August 1975
12 K. R. Puri 20 August 1975 “ 2 May 1977
13 M. Narasimham 3 May 1977 “ 30 November 1977
14 Dr. I. G. Patel 1 December 1977 “ 15 September 1982
15 Dr. Manmohan Singh 16 September 1982 “ 14 January 1985
16 A. Ghosh 15 January 1985 “ 4 February 1985
17 R N Malhotra 04 February 1985 to 22 December 1990
18 S. Venkitaramanan 22 December 1990 “ 21 December 1992
19 C. Rangarajan 22 December 1992 “ 21 November 1997
20 Dr. Bimal Jalan 22 November 1997 “ 6 September 2003
21 Dr. Y V Reddy 6 September 2003 “ 5 September 2008
22 D. Subbarao 5 September 2008 to 04 September 2013
23 Raghuram Rajan 05 September 2013 to Present