The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday announced that executive director, Anand Sinha will take over as deputy governor for a period of two years up to February 2013. The post has been vacant ever since Usha Thorat retired in November 2010. Sinha will be the fourth deputy governor of RBI, along with Shyamala Gopinath, K C Chakrabarty and Subir Gokarn.
Sinha will look after two regulatory departments ? Department of Banking Operations & Development and Urban Banks Department. ?He will also look after the Departments of Information Technology, Expenditure and Budgetary Control, Inspection, Legal and Premises,? the RBI said in a statement.
A deputy governor in RBI can be appointed for a maximum period of five years or till the person attains the age of 62, whichever is earlier.
The appointment of Sinha has paved way for a reshuffle in portfolio allocations of deputy governors. RBI had allocated Thorat?s portfolios to Gopinath till the time a new DG was appointed. However, now some of the portfolios have been allocated to Chakrabarty. Accordingly, the Department of Banking Supervision, Currency Management, Human Resources Development, Administration and Personnel Management, Rural Planning and Credit Department & Central Security Cell have been allocated to Chakrabarty. Apart from this he would continue to oversee the functions of Customer Services and Rajbhasha Departments.
In August last year, the RBI had stripped off key departments like human resources development, or HRD, administrative and personnel management or DAPM, besides urban banks department and rural planning and credit department from Chakrabarty. This was after his ?off the record? chat with a few reporters in New Delhi that the RBI should be more aggressive in raising interest rates to combat inflation. The reshuffle was swift as this comment led to the 10-year bond sliding by close to 35 paisa.
RBI has four deputy governors, of which two are promoted from within the ranks, one is an economist and the other a commercial banker. ?Gopinath is set to retire in June 2011 hence in the reshuffle Chakrabarty has been allocated new portfolios,? said a source.
Gopinath would oversee the functions of the Department of External Investments and Operations, Department of Government & Bank Accounts, Payments & Settlements Systems, Financial Stability Unit, Internal Debt Management Department, Secretary?s Department and Co-ordination. Gokarn would continue to handle the Right to Information Act, Department of Communication, Department of Economic Analysis and Policy Department of Statistics and Information Management, Monetary Policy Department and Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation.