New RBI governor after PM's Africa trip

 The government has completed the search for the successor of Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan.

The name will be announced immediately after Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes back from the four nation tour of Africa.

The prime minister is expected to return on July 11, a top official said.
There are four names doing the round for the post. These are former RBI deputy governors Subir Gokarn and Rakesh Mohan. RBI’s serving deputy governor Urijit Patel and State Bank of India Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya are also in the fray.

Asked if the governor has been short listed from these four names, the official said, “it can be from these names or it may also be surprise one!”

But sources in the finance ministry are not ruling out the name of Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian as well. He is a world reputed economist having served with International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In principle, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet clears the name of the RBI governor but in actual practice it is the prime minister, who in consultation with the finance minister and the incumbent governor chooses the person.

An RBI governor serves a three-year term but almost all governors since 1992 have been given an extension of another two years. Rajan will be the only governor in the past almost 25 years to have the shortest three-year term.