Raghuram Rajan appointed next governor of RBI

The government's chief economic advisor Raghuram Govind Rajan has been appointed as the next governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Rajan will take over from Duvvuri Subbarao, who completes his five-year term on 4 September.

''Prime minister has approved the appointment of Dr Raghuram Rajan as the governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a term of three years, vice Dr D Subba Rao upon completion of his (Dr Rao's) tenure,'' an official note said, adding that Dr Rao will be completing his tenure on 4 September 2013.

Rajan, who is currently chief economic advisor in the finance ministry, will be the 23rd governor of the central bank.

As one who earned a name for himself by predicting the 2008 global financial crisis, Rajan will have to live up to his reputation in his battle to hold the rupee from falling as he battles rising prices and slowing economic growth.

Rajan, who was earlier a chief economist with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was appointed chief economic advisor in the finance ministry in August 2012 (See: India, world face hard times: new CEA Rajan).

Raghuram Govind Rajan (born 3 February 1963) also serves as Eric J Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. Rajan is also a visiting professor for the World Bank, the Federal Reserve Board, and Swedish Parliamentary Commission.

He had formerly served as the president of the American Finance Association and was the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Rajan had also previously worked on a Planning Commission panel on financial reforms and as honorary economic advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Raghuram Rajan was born to an Indian diplomat in Bhopal in 1963 and did his schooling abroad till his 7th class and then continued his schooling in Delhi. In 1985, he graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, and, in 1987, completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration at the Indian Institute of Management.

Rajan, a gold medallist from both IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad, also received a PhD in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1991 for his thesis titled "Essays on Banking".