Punjab National Bank (PNB) Chairman and Managing Director Kamlesh Chandra Chakrabarty is set to take over as deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with the government clearing his appointment today.
An official notification was expected over the next few days, sources associated with the process said.
Chakrabarty will succeed V Leeladhar, whose term came to an end in early December.
Traditionally, RBI has had four deputy governors, with a former public sector bank chairman being in-charge of banking supervision and development. However, it is unclear if Chakrabarty will be assigned the same departments or some other responsibility. He is expected to get a three-year term.
While the government has cleared Chakrabarty’s appointment, it will soon begin search for another deputy governor with Rakesh Mohan due to leave the central bank later this month to take up an assignment at Stanford University. The fourth deputy governor will be an economist and will handle the monetary policy and financial market departments, among others.
Chakrabarty, who turns 57 on June 27, holds a master’s degree in statistics and a doctorate from the Benaras Hindu University. In 1978, he started his career as a planning officer at Bank of Baroda. He went on to head the bank’s corporate planning and economic research departments, besides being in-charge of resource management at the bank’s corporate office.
In 2004, Chakrabarty moved to Punjab National Bank as executive director before taking over as the chairman and managing director of Indian Bank in June 2005. He was instrumental is carrying forward the restructuring and later listing of the Chennai-based public sector bank on bourses. He has been the PNB chairman and managing director since June 2007.
While Chakrabarty was among the seven candidates shortlisted by a committee headed by RBI Governor D Subbarao, he did attend the interview along with some other candidates due to a lack of clarity over the tenure at the central bank. Later, the panel called the candidates again for an interview, which Chakrabarty also attended.
Chakrabarty and former Bank of India Chairman T S Narayanasami were the two candidates whose names were recommended by the panel, with Chakrabarty being on top of the list. But a clearance from the appointments committee of the cabinet was delayed due to the Lok Sabha elections and sources said that the proposal was cleared today. Also, Narayanasami retired on May 31.
