When asked whether an order appointing Gokarn as the deputy governor of RBI has been issued, he said "It will be done in due course". The post of deputy governor (for economist) in RBI has been lying vacant since mid-June after Rakesh Mohan quit months ahead of his retirement.

The apex bank traditionally has four deputy governors. Currently, the other three deputy governors include Usha Thorat, K C Chakrabarty and Shyamala Gopinath.

Before joining S&P in August 2007, Gokarn was Chief Economist with S&P's Indian arm Crisil. He had also worked as an economist with the think-tank National Council of Applied Economic Research.