Anand Mahindra, Venu Srinivasan, two others inducted in RBI board

Members are not involved in monetary policy, four of them will end their terms in August-September.

The government has nominated Mahindra & Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra, TVS Motor chairperson Venu Srinivasan, Zydus Lifesciences’ chairman Pankaj Patel and Ravindra Dholakia, a former professor of Indian Institute of Ahmedabad, as part-time non-official directors on the central board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Dholakia was earlier a member of the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) of RBI, which sets the interest rate. The appointments are for four years and start today. RBI board members do not engage themselves in monetary policy matters, but provide a broader vision for the central bank.

“The Central Government has nominated Shri Anand Gopal Mahindra, Shri Venu Srinivasan, Shri Pankaj Ramanbhai Patel and Dr Ravindra H. Dholakia as part-time non-official Directors on the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India, for a period of four years with effect from June 14, 2022 or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” RBI said in a statement.

The RBI central board has 11 members,excluding appointments announced on Tuesday. Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran is among members whose term ended recently.

At least four more board member’s four-year terms will end over the next few months. S Gurumurthy and Satish Marathe’s term will end in August, while Revathy Iyer and Sachin Chaturvedi’s term will end in September. The RBI Act has a provision for 21 board members, including the governor and the four deputy governors. This also includes two government officials: the secretaries from the department of economic affairs and financial services.

According to the latest RBI's annual report, there are no central board members in two local boards: western and southern.

Some of the members like Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran’s term ended recently.