NS Vishwanathan, the senior most Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor, has put in his papers, citing health reasons. His one-year extended tenure was to come to an end on July 3.

The Government had appointed Vishwanathan as Deputy Governor for a period of three years in July 2016. Prior to his elevation as Deputy Governor, he was Executive Director at the central bank. He was given a one-year extension after his three-year tenure came to an end.

RBI insiders say that Lily Vadera and M Rajeshwar Rao, both Executive Directors, are the front runners for the Deputy Governor’s position.

Deputy Governor BP Kanungo’s three-year term too is coming to an end in April 2020. The government had appointed him as Deputy Governor in March 2017. The RBI has four Deputy Governors.

Career central banker

As Deputy Governor, Vishwanathan is currently overseeing the functioning of six departments ― Inspection, Risk Monitoring, Enforcement, Secretary’s, Regulation, and Communication.

Vishwanathan is a career central banker, who joined the Reserve Bank of India in 1981. His areas of expertise include regulation and supervision of banks, non-banking finance companies and cooperative banks, currency management, foreign exchange and human resources management. He had a three-year secondment to the Bank of Mauritius, the central bank of that country, as Director, Supervision. He has also been head of the Chennai Regional Office of the Reserve Bank.

He has been associated with various committees, working groups, and task forces. He represented the Reserve Bank in various international committees, viz. Member of the Policy Development Group, BIS, Basel, Member of Macro Prudential Policy Group BIS, Basel, and Executive Committee Member of the International Credit Union Regulators Network.

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