K.R. Kamath, CMD, Punjab National Bank, is the front-runner for the position of deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, following incumbent K.C. Chakrabarty requesting that he be relieved on 25 April. The search committee headed by RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and including financial services secretary Rajiv Takru had met nine CMDs of public sector banks as part of the selection procedure. CMDs of these banks, who had put in more than one year in the top job were invited for the meeting. They are: S.S. Mundra of Bank of Baroda, Arun Kaul of UCO Bank, V.R. Iyer of Bank of India, S.C. Bansal of Oriental Bank of Commerce, T.M. Bhasin of Indian Bank, Ashwani Kumar of Dena Bank, M. Narendra of Indian Overseas Bank,and R.K. Dubey of Canara Bank. Kamath has had the longest tenure as CMD and he also heads the secod largest public sector bank. Chakrabarty was also a former CMD of Punjab National Bank. RBI has four deputy governors- two from within the organisation, one economist and one banker. Kamath’s name is understood to have been recommended to the government, which will take a final decision. He will have a tenure of five years or till the age of 62, whichever is earlier.
