Portfolios of RBI deputy governor to be distributed after Rohit Jain takes charge

MUMBAI: The appointment of Rohit Jain as deputy governor at the Reserve Bank of India comes after the retirement of T Rabi Sankar and at a time when the central bank has to prepare banks for new risks, including cybersecurity.

Jain, who was appointed executive director in Dec 2020, was until now in charge of supervisory assessment of banks and financial institutions under the department of supervision. He was appointed deputy governor up to May 2029 after a vacancy arose after Sankar completed his term last week.

The deputy governor portfolios are likely to be announced this week after Jain takes charge. Sankar, who was deputy governor since 2021, oversaw a broad portfolio that included corporate strategy and budget, currency management, external investments and operations, information technology, payment and settlement systems, fintech, financial markets regulation, foreign exchange, and internal debt management.

Currently, Shirish Chandra Murmu is responsible for regulatory and enforcement functions, communication, and management of govt and bank accounts.

Swaminathan J oversees supervisory, consumer protection, and inspection of financial entities, among others. Poonam Gupta handles macroeconomic, monetary, and external functions, covering economic research, statistics, monetary policy, financial markets operations, financial stability, and international relations.

Public speeches by officials below the rank of deputy governor are not routinely available, but Jain’s address ahead of the G20 finance ministers’ and central bank governors meeting in Bengaluru in 2023 was widely reported. In that speech, he had said that banks and financial institutions must adequately resource their security architecture and integrate safeguards into core processes.

“Security by design needs to be embedded as part of the banking processes, and security controls should be conceived and implemented,” he had said.
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