Sir Osborne Smith was the first governor of the Reserve Bank, serving from April 1, 1935, to June 30, 1937.
P K Mishra, a retired IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, is currently serving as the principal secretary to the prime minister.
Erstwhile RBI governors, including Raghuram Rajan never had cordial relations with the government.
Of the eight RBI governors who have held office since the 1991 economic liberalisation, Bimal Jalan had the longest stint and S Venkitaramanan, the shortest. Current Governor Shaktikanta Das will overtake Bimal Jalan before completing his second term in December, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Shaktikanta Das is a master of the finest balancing act who listens to all but takes his own decisions, discovers Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Tension between the government, specially the finance ministry, and RBI is as old as the central bank itself.
The Reserve Bank of India is not a free agent. It never has been, nor should it ever be.
If indeed the issues involved between the government and RBI are of immense public interest, why not make public the arguments of both the government and the RBI, irrespective of the outcome of the process, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.However, the Act is silent on what happens if the governor's views differ from that of the government. If Patel does not want to budge from his stance the government can either see merit in the Governor's arguments and decide against going ahead with its plan or overrule him. My guess is that the issues raised by the government need to be sorted out not at the November 19 board meeting but between the Governor and the government, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The resignation is sure to create more political firestorms for the government as it comes on the eve of the winter session of Parliament where the Opposition has already made it clear to the treasury benches that infringing on the RBI autonomy would be a big talking point for them.
