The government has appointed R Gandhi as deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Gandhi, 58, who has been handed over a three-year term, succeeds Anand Sinha who retired in January.

Prior to this, Gandhi was an executive director of the central bank.

A deputy governor could be appointed for up to five years or till the age of 62, whichever is earlier. Gandhi will handle most of the portfolios that Sinha was looking after including the department of banking operations and development (DBoD), which was instrumental in forming guidelines for the new bank licence process.

Apart from DBoD, Gandhi will be in-charge of non-banking supervision, urban banks, expenditure and budgetary control, and information technology, among others.

“Having joined the Reserve Bank of India in 1980, Gandhi has built, over these 33 years, expertise and experience in varied fields which include payment systems and information technology, financial markets operations and regulation, currency operations and management, personnel and human resources management, industrial credit and international banking,” said a press release from RBI.

The banking regulator has the provision for four deputy governors. Traditionally, among the four deputy governors, two are promoted from within the ranks of RBI; one is an economist; and the fourth one is a commercial banker. Apart from Gandhi, the other deputy governors are K C Chakrabarty, H R Khan and Urjit Patel.

Chakrabarty will also complete his tenure in the last week of April and the government has already started the search for his successor. (Business Standard)