Sir Osborne Arkell Smith, (26 December 1876-30 August 1952) was the first Governor of the Reserve

Bank of India from 1 April 1935 to 30 June 1937. Smith was professional banker, and had served for 20 years with the Bank of New South Wales and 10 years with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. He then came to India in 1926 as Managing Governor of the Imperial Bank of India. His stewardship of the Imperial Bank won him recognition in banking circles in India. Since his outlook on policy issues like the exchange rates and interest rates differed with that of the Government, he resigned before the completion of his term of office. Sir Osborne, did not sign any Indian rupee notes during his tenure

 Sir James Braid Taylor,(21 April 1891-17 February 1943)was the second Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1 July 1937 until he died in office on 17 February 1943. Taylor, a member of the Indian Civil Service, served as a Deputy Controller in the Currency Department of the Government of India for over a decade. He was closely associated with the preparation and piloting of the Reserve Bank of India Bill. He governed the bank during the war years and was involved in decision to move from a silver currency to fiat money Even though he was the second Governor, his signature was the first to appear on the currency notes of the Indian rupee. His second term came to an end when he died in office on 17 February 1943.

 Sir Chint man Dw rak n th Deshmukh, (14 January 1896 - October 2, 1982), better known as C. D. Deshmukh, was the first Indian to be appointed as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 1943 (194349) by the British Raj authorities. He subsequently served as the Finance Minister in the Union Cabinet (1950 -1956). Deshmukh received his education at Jesus College, Cambridge, England in the field of Natural Sciences. He was married to freedom fighter and activist, Durgabai Deshmukh.

 Sir Benegal Rama Rau,(1 July 1889 13 December 1969 was the fourth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1 July 1949 to 14 January 1957. He was educated at Presidency College, Madras, and at Kings College, Cambridge. He was a member of the Indian Civil Service. While he had the longest tenure as Governor of the RBI, it was cut short when he resigned just before the expiry of his second extended term, due to differences with the then Finance Minister. (TTK)

 K. G. Ambegaokar was the fifth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 14 January 1957 to 28 February 1957. He was a member of the Indian Civil Service, and served as Finance Secretary before his appointment as Deputy Governor of the RBI. He had the shortest tenure (45 days) Ambegaonkar's signature as RBI Governor did not appear on any Indian Rupee note, but his signature as Finance Secretary appeared on the second, third, and fourth Rupee notes issued after independence.

 H. V. R. Iyengar was the sixth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1 March 1957 to 28 February 1962. He was a member of the Indian Civil Service, and served as the Chairman of State Bank of India, before his appointment as the Governor of the Reserve Bank. During Iyengar's tenure the Indian coinage system shifted from the earlier pies, paise, and anna system to decimal coinage. He received Padma Vibhushan, India`s second highest civilian honour from the Government of India in 1962.

 P. C. Bhattacharya was the seventh Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1 March 1962 to 30 June 1967. Unlike his predecessors he was a member of the Indian Audits and Accounts Service (IA&AS). Bhattacharya's tenure saw the establishment of the Industrial Development Bank of India in 1964, the Agricultural Refinance Corporation in 1963 and the Unit Trust of India in 1964. Additionally the size of the Indian rupee notes of denomination 5, 10 and 100 were reduced from the earlier large format to the size it is today. While this was done for economic reasons, to reduce the cost of paper and printing costs, it helped in bringing the notes to a handy size.

 Lakshmi Kant Jha (22 November 1913 - 16 January 1988), was the eighth Governor of the RBI from 1 July 1967 to 3 May 1970. During his tenure the Indian Rupee notes of denominations of 2, 5, 10, and 100, commemorating the birth centenary of Mahatma Gandhi was released on 2 October 1969, these notes bear his signature. His tenure also saw nationalization of 14 major commercial banks, introduction of social controls over commercial banks, establishment of National Credit Council, and the introduction of Lead Bank Scheme to facilitate credit delivery. Amongst other developments, gold controls were brought on a statutory basis; Deposit Insurance was in principle extended to Cooperative banks; and the setting up of the Agricultural Credit Board.

 B. N. Adarkar was the ninth Governor of the RBI from 4 May 1970 to 15 June 1970 Unlike his predecessors who were from the Indian Civil Service, Adarkar was an economist and had served in the office of the Economic Adviser of the Government of India. He also served as India's Executive Director at the IMF Adarkar was involved in the establishment of the National Institute of Bank Management.

 S. Jagannathan was the tenth Governor of the RBI from 16 June 1970 to 19 May 1975 Jagannathan was a member of the Indian Civil Service, and had served with the Central Government. Prior to becoming the Governor of the RBI, he was India's Executive Director at the World Bank His achievement include an expansion of banking offices in pursuance of the objectives of the nationalisation of private banks. The Credit Guarantee Corporation of India, and State Level Bankers' Committees were established during his tenure. Indian rupee notes of 20 and 50 denomination were introduced for the first time in India and these bore his signature He relinquished office to take up the post of the India's Executive Director at the IMF

 N. C. Sen Gupta was the eleventh Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 19 May 1975 to 19 August 1975. He was the interim governor until K R Puri took office. Prior to that, he was the secretary to the Department of Banking of the Ministry of Finance. Even though his tenure was short, his signature appears on the Indian rupee note of 1000 denomination. This is the only note that bears his signature.

 K. R. Puri was the twelfth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 20 August 1975 to 21 May 1977 He was the Chairman and Managing Director of the Life Insurance Corporation of India prior to his appointment as Governor of the RBI. His signature appears on one of the last Indian rupee notes of 1000 denomination. These notes were demonetised in 1978, and were reintroduced after a period of 22 years in 2000

 M. Narasimham was the thirteenth Governor of the RBI from 2 May 1977 to 30 November 1977 RBI follows a policy of in house promotions, where all staff persons are promoted internally. The only two jobs where this is not done is for the Governor and one Deputy Governor. In Narasimham's case, in house promotion was upheld for the Governor's post. Hence he was the first Reserve Bank cadre officer to be appointed as Governor. He had joined the Bank as a Research Officer in the Economic Department. He later joined the Government and prior to his appointment as Governor he served as Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs. After his short term as RBI Governor he served as India's Executive Director at the World Bank and later at

 Dr Indraprasad Gordhanbhai Patel (11 November 1924 - 17 July 2005) popularly known as I. G. Patel, was the fourteenth Governor of the RBI from 1 December 1977 to 15 September 1982. Patel was an economist and before joining the Reserve Bank as Governor had served as Secretary in the Ministry of Finance After retiring from the Reserve Bank, Patel became the Director of The London School of Economics and Political Science (19841990) His distinguished directorship saw the school's reputation excel to being that of the finest economics school in the world, P. V. Narasimha Rao wanted I.G. Patel as his finance minister in 1991. But Patel declined. The Indian Rupee notes of 1000, 5000 and 10,000 denomination and the gold auctions were demonetised during his tenure (he later featured on a special commemorative 1000 rupee note). However, the 1000 notes had to be reintroduced later.

 Dr. Manmohan Singh born 26 September 1932) is the 14th and current Prime Minister of the Republic of India. He was the Governer of RBI from 1982-85 He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. He is the first Sikh to hold the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian National Congress party. Singh previously carried out economic reforms in India in 1991 during his tenure as the Finance Minister, under the leadership of P. V. Narasimha Rao, from 1991 to 1996. These reforms resulted in the end of the Licence Raj system, helping to open the Indian economy to greater international trade and investment He also looked after finance from Dec 2008 to Jan 2009

 Amitav Ghosh is an Indian banker. He served for the 20 days from January 15 to February 4, 1985, as the 16th governor of the Reserve Bank of India. His term was the shortest ever served by any Reserve Bank of India governor. Previously Ghosh had been appointed RBI deputy governor. Before this Ghosh was the chairman of Allahabad Bank. He was also a Director of the IDBI Bank and was on the governing body of the National Institute of Bank Management.

 R. N. Malhotra was the seventeenth governor of the Reserve Bank of India, serving from 4 February 1985 to 22 December 1990. Malhotra was a member of the Indian Administrative Service. He had served as Secretary, Finance, and as India's Executive Director of the IMF before his appointment as governor of the RBI. During his tenure, the 500-rupee note was introduced.

 S. Venkitaramanan was the eighteenth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 22 December 1990 to 22 December 1992. Venkitaramanan holds a Master's degree in Physics from the University of Kerala and also a Master's Degree in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, USA. He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service, he had served as Finance Secretary, and adviser to the Government of Karnataka before his appointment as Governor of the RBI

 Dr. C. Rangarajan (born 1932) is a renowned economist and a distinguished former Member of Parliament and Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Currently, he is the Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. He is also the Chairman of the Madras School of Economics, and the Founding Chairman of the CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science. He served as RBI governer from 1992-97

 Bimal Jalan was the Governor of Reserve Bank of India for two terms. The Government of India appointed Jalan as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, first for a period of two years commencing November 22, 2000 to November 21, 2002 and again for a further period of two years commencing from November 22, 2002 and ending November 21, 2004.

 Dr. Yaga Venugopal Reddy, better known as Y.V. Reddy, (born 17 August 1941 in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh) is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1964 batch who served as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) (India's central bank) from 6 September 2003 until 5 September 2008. In 2010, he was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan.

 Duvvuri Subbarao (born 11 August 1949) is a 1972 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre. On 5 September 2008, he was appointed the twenty-second Governor of Reserve Bank of India