Who will replace Raghuram Rajan at RBI? All you need to know

Hours after Raghuram Rajan announced his decision to return to academia at the end of his stint, speculations have made rounds on who will be his successor at the central bank. 

Several names have propped up, who are said to be in the fray, to take up the position at RBI. 

Business Standard takes a look at a few probable names who may take charge from Rajan in September.

Arundhati Bhattacharya

The Chairman of State Bank of India may be in the race to be the next Governor. She has been credited for the turnover that the bank has seen under her leadership. Several reports indicate that she may be the frontrunner to take up the top job. Coincidentally, her tenure at SBI comes to an end in September, around the same time as Rajan. The SBI chairman has been vocal on the issue of non-performing assets that has dragged down banking sector's performance. However, she has also focused on having a resolution mechanism to address them. "We should have had more weapons to fight this. You have to go to war with a sword and a shield. You cannot go to war with bare hands," she said. 

Urjit Patel 

The Deputy Governor of the RBI has been one of the key ‘inflation lieutenants’ for Rajan at the central bank.  He has also been instrumental in shaping and implementing the monetary policy. Patel spearheaded a committee which, in January 2014, recommended that the central bank must focus on targetting consumer inflation and move away from wholesale prices. 

Rakesh Mohan

Mohan is currently the executive director at International Monetary Fund (IMF). In the past, he has been associated with the central bank as its Deputy Governor. 

Subir Gokarn

Gokarn has earlier served as the Deputy Governor at the RBI, before joining Brookings. Prior to that, he had served as the head of CRISIL's research and information business. Later in 2015, post his stint at Brookings, he was appointed as an Executive Director at the IMF. 

Vijay Kelkar

Kelkar was associated with the finance ministry under the UPA regime. He served as an adviser to the Minister of Finance and was the Chairman of the Finance Commission. He also has had a stint with the IMF in 1999. Kelkar headed a panel to decide a framework on gas pricing. It had recommended market-linked pricing of gas along with a product sharing contract linked to investment multiple for oil exploration and production.

Ashok Chawla

Former chairman of Competition Commission of India (CCI), Chawla was recently appointed as the chief of National Stock Exchange (NSE). He has been a civil servant with over 40 years of experience in many sectors in India and abroad. Along with the NSE, he also heads The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) after its incumbent chief RK Pachauri went on a leave. Pachauri had resigned from the institute and the UN body, IPCC, after he was accused of sexual harrassment charges. 

Ashok Lahiri

Lahiri is currently serving as the chairman of Bandhan Bank. He has served as the chief economic adviser to the government. He has also been a member of several committees set up by Government and the Reserve Bank of India for advising on many issues.

Kaushik Basu

A former chief economic advisor during the UPA government, Basu is currently the chief economist of the World Bank. Among all the probable candidates whose names have cropped up so far, Basu seems to be the most active on social media, with tweets giving his views on current affairs and events of interest, including those taking place in India. Basu is also the founder of Centre of Development Economics and Delhi School of Economics.

Arvind Subramanian

The current Chief Economic Advisor to the finance ministry, Subramanian had famously suggested that the fiscal consolidation path which the centre so astutely followed should be relaxed in the face of higher spending burden. He has also suggested that the Reserve Bank should use some of the government’s idle cash to recapitalize banks.