Osborne Smith was a British banker who served as the Managing Governor of the Imperial Bank of India prior to becoming the first Governor of RBI.
1 Apr 1935 - 30 Jun 1937
James Braid Taylor was an Indian Civil Services officer who served as the Controller of the Currency & the Deputy Governor of RBI prior to becoming the Governor.
1 Jul 1937 -17 Feb 1943
Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh was the first Indian to serve as the Governor of RBI. His governorship oversaw the partition of India as the subsequent division of assets & liabilities between India and Pakistan.
11 Aug 1943 - 30 Jun 1949
Benegal Rama Rau was an Indian Civil Services officer who served as the Indian ambassador to the United States prior to becoming the Governor of RBI.
1 Jul 1949 - 14 Jan 1957
K. G. Ambegaokar was an Indian Civil Services officer who served as the Finance Secretary and was appointed as the interim governor upon the resignation of Benegal Rama Rau.
14 Jan 1957 - 28 Feb 1957
H.V.R. Iyengar was an Indian Civil Services officer who served as the chairman of the State Bank of India prior to becoming the Governor of RBI.
1 Mar 1957 - 28 Feb 1962
P. C. Bhattacharya was an Indian Audit & Accounts Service officer who served as the chairman of the State Bank of India prior to becoming the Governor of RBI.
1 Mar 1962 - 30 Jun 1967
Lakshmi Kant Jha was an Indian Civil Services officer who served as the secretary to the Prime Minister prior to becoming the Governor of RBI
1 Jul 1967 - 3 May 1970
B. N. Adarkar was an Economist who served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of India prior to becoming the interim Governor of RBI.
4 May 1970 - 15 Jun 1970
Sarukkai Jagannathan was an Indian Civil Services officer who served as India's Executive Director of the World Bank prior to becoming the Governor of RBI.
16 Jun 1970 - 19 May 1975
N. C. Gupta served as the Secretary to the Department of Banking, Ministry of Finance prior to becoming the Interim Governor of RBI.
19 May 1975 - 19 Aug 1975
K. R. Puri served as the Chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation prior to becoming the Governor of RBI.
20 Aug 1975 - 2 May 1977
M. Narasimham was an RBI Research Officer who served as an Additional Secretary to the Department of Economic Affairs prior to becoming the Governor of RBI.
3 May 1977 - 30 Nov 1977
I. G. Patel was an Economist who served as a Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. His governorship oversaw the Demonetization of ₹5,000 and ₹10,000 value currency.
1 Dec 1977 - 15 Sep 1982
Manmohan Singh is an Economist who served as the Finance Secretary prior to becoming the Governor of RBI. He went on to become the Prime Minister of India.
16 Sep 1982 - 14 Jan 1985
Amitav Ghosh was the Deputy Governor of RBI who was appointed as the Interim Governor until R. N. Malhotra assumed the office.
15 Jan 1985 - 4 Feb 1985
R. N. Malhotra was an Indian Administrative Services officer who served as executive director of the International Monetary Fund prior to becoming the Governor of RBI.
4 Feb 1985 - 22 Dec 1990
S. Venkitaramanan was an Indian Administrative Services Officer. India adopted International Monetary Fund's stabilization program during his Governorship.
22 Dec 1990 - 21 Dec 1992
C. Rangarajan is an Economist who served as the Governor of RBI. His governorship oversaw the establishment of a Unified Exchange Rate.
22 Dec 1992 - 21 Nov 1997
Bimal Jalan is an Economist who served in various positions including being the Chief Economic Adviser to the government. His Governorship oversaw less Inflation & Interest Rates.
22 Nov 1997 - 6 Sep 2003
Y. Venugopal Reddy is an Indian Administrative Services officer who served as the Deputy Governor of RBI prior to becoming the Governor of RBI.
6 Sep 2003 - 5 Sep 2008
D. Subbarao is an Indian Administrative Services officer who served as the Finance Secretary prior to becoming the Governor of RBI
5 Sep 2008 - 4 Sep 2013
Raghuram Rajan is an Economist who served as the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government & the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund prior to becoming the Governor of RBI.
4 Sep 2013 - 4 Sep 2016
Urjit Patel is an Indian Economist who looked after Monetary Policy, Economic Research, Financial Markets, Statistics and Information Management.
4 Sep 2016 - 10 Dec 2018
Shaktikanta Das is serving as the current & 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He was earlier a member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission & India's Sherpa to the G20.
12 Dec 2018 - Incumbent