PNB chief, Virmani in lead for RBI dy guvs

NEW DELHI: With the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government sworn in on Friday, two key appointments of deputy governors in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are likely to be made soon.
A selection committee, headed by RBI governor D Subbarao, had interviewed aspirants early this year and is believed to have already given its suggestions to the government.While K C Chakraborty, chairman of Punjab National Bank, is the frontrunner for the banking division, chief economic advisor in the finance ministry Arvind Virmani is considered to be the favourite to replace Rakesh Mohan who retired early this month.
One post of deputy governor fell vacant in December 2008 when V Leeladhar retired. The government had then constituted a high-level committee headed by Subbarao to shortlist the candidates. Alongwith Chakraborty others in the race include Bank of India chairman T S Narayanasami. Those interviewed by the Subbarao panel to find a replacement for Leeladhar included IDBI Bank CMD Yogesh Agrawal, M D Mallya of Bank of Baroda and A C Mahajan of Canara Bank.
For the policy and financial market position, besides Virmani there are other contenders in the race including PM's economic advisor Raghuram Rajan and vice-chancellor of Pune University Narendra Jadhav.
Narayanasami was earlier tipped to bag the post of Leeladhar but before a decision could be arrived at, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had initiated a vigilance inquiry against him. Despite the finance ministry strongly backing the Bank of India chief, the apex vigilance panel refused to give clean chit to the top banker who is also chairman of the Indian Banks' Association.
Rakesh Mohan, seniormost official at RBI, resigned on May 4, eight months before his tenure was to end. He is taking up a teaching assignment at Stanford University. He was earlier considered to succeed Y V Reddy as the RBI Governor which later was bagged by finance secretary D Subbarao.