List of governors of Reserve Bank of India - Wikipedia List of governors of Reserve Bank of India Governor of the Reserve Bank of India Seal of RBI Incumbent Urjit Patel since 3 September 2016 Appointer Government of India Inaugural holder Osborne Smith Formation 1 April 1935 The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India is the chief executive of India 's central bank and the ex-officio chairperson of its Central Board of Directors. Indian Rupee currency notes, issued by the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ), bear the governor 's signature. Since its establishment in 1935 by the British colonial government, the RBI has been headed by 24 governors. The term of office typically runs for 3 years. The inaugural officeholder was the British banker Osborne Smith, while C.D. Deshmukh was the first Indian governor. The position is currently held by Urjit Patel, who took over from Raghuram Rajan on 4 September 2016. RBI governors I.G. Patel served a five - year term as RBI governor from 1977 to 1982. Manmohan Singh, RBI governor for two years in the 1980s, went on to serve one five - year term as finance minister and two as prime minister. D. Subbarao served his five - year term as RBI governor under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Raghuram Rajan, formerly chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, was India 's central banker between 2013 and 2016. No. Name Term of office Began Ended Duration Osborne Smith 1 April 1935 30 June 1937 7002821000000000000 ♠ 2 years, 90 days James Braid Taylor, ICS 1 July 1937 17 February 1943 7003205700000000000 ♠ 5 years, 231 days C.D. Deshmukh, ICS 11 August 1943 30 June 1949 7003215000000000000 ♠ 5 years, 323 days Benegal Rama Rau, ICS 1 July 1949 14 January 1957 7003275400000000000 ♠ 7 years, 197 days K.G. Ambegaonkar, ICS 14 January 1957 28 February 1957 7001450000000000000 ♠ 45 days 6 H.V.R. Iyengar, ICS 1 March 1957 28 February 1962 7003182500000000000 ♠ 4 years, 364 days 7 P.C. Bhattacharya 1 March 1962 30 June 1967 7003194700000000000 ♠ 5 years, 121 days 8 L.K. Jha 1 July 1967 3 May 1970 7003103700000000000 ♠ 2 years, 306 days 9 B.N. Adarkar 4 May 1970 15 June 1970 7001420000000000000 ♠ 42 days 10 S. Jagannathan 16 June 1970 19 May 1975 7003179800000000000 ♠ 4 years, 337 days 11 N.C. Sen Gupta 19 May 1975 19 August 1975 7001920000000000000 ♠ 92 days 12 K.R. Puri 20 August 1975 2 May 1977 7002621000000000000 ♠ 1 year, 255 days 13 M. Narasimham 3 May 1977 30 November 1977 7002211000000000000 ♠ 211 days 14 I.G. Patel 1 December 1977 15 September 1982 7003174900000000000 ♠ 4 years, 288 days 15 Manmohan Singh 16 September 1982 14 January 1985 7002851000000000000 ♠ 2 years, 120 days 16 Amitav Ghosh 15 January 1985 4 February 1985 7001200000000000000 ♠ 20 days 17 R.N. Malhotra, IAS 4 February 1985 22 December 1990 7003214700000000000 ♠ 5 years, 321 days 18 S. Venkitaramanan, IAS 22 December 1990 21 December 1992 7002730000000000000 ♠ 1 year, 365 days 19 C. Rangarajan 22 December 1992 21 November 1997 7003179500000000000 ♠ 4 years, 334 days 20 Bimal Jalan 22 November 1997 6 September 2003 7003211400000000000 ♠ 5 years, 288 days 21 Y.V. Reddy, IAS 6 September 2003 5 September 2008 7003182600000000000 ♠ 4 years, 365 days 22 D. Subbarao, IAS 5 September 2008 4 September 2013 7003182500000000000 ♠ 4 years, 364 days 23 Raghuram Rajan 4 September 2013 4 September 2016 7003109600000000000 ♠ 3 years, 0 days 24 Urjit Patel 4 September 2016 Incumbent 7002543000000000000 ♠ 1 year, 178 days References Jump up ^ Saha, Siddhartha Sankar ( 2013 ). Indian financial systems and markets. New Delhi, IN. : McGraw - Hill. p. 67. ISBN 1259005003. 3 YEARS 10 External links Official RBI site 's Governors Page Reserve Bank of India -- About Us : List of Governors ( Present one first ) Governors of the Reserve Bank of India Osborne Smith ( 1935 -- 37 ) James Braid Taylor ( 1937 -- 43 ) C.D. Deshmukh ( 1943 -- 49 ) Benegal Rama Rau ( 1949 -- 57 ) K.G. Ambegaonkar ( 1957 ) H.V.R. Iyengar ( 1957 -- 62 ) P.C. Bhattacharya ( 1962 -- 67 ) Lakshmi Kant Jha ( 1967 -- 70 ) B.N. Adarkar ( 1970 ) S. Jagannathan ( 1970 -- 75 ) N.C. Sen Gupta ( 1975 ) K.R. Puri ( 1975 -- 77 ) M. Narasimham ( 1977 ) I.G. Patel ( 1977 -- 82 ) Manmohan Singh ( 1982 -- 85 ) Amitav Ghosh ( 1985 ) R.N. Malhotra ( 1985 -- 90 ) S. Venkitaramanan ( 1990 -- 92 ) C. Rangarajan ( 1992 -- 97 ) Bimal Jalan ( 1997 -- 2003 ) Y. Venugopal Reddy ( 2003 -- 08 ) Duvvuri Subbarao ( 2008 -- 13 ) Raghuram Rajan ( 2013 -- 16 ) Urjit Patel ( 2016 -- ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Governors_of_Reserve_Bank_of_India&oldid=828221902 '' Categories : Governors of the Reserve Bank of India Lists of office - holders in India Hidden categories : Use Indian English from July 2015 All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English Use dmy dates from July 2015 Talk About Wikipedia हिन्दी ಕನ್ನಡ मराठी 日本 語 ଓଡ଼ିଆ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ தமிழ் Edit links This page was last edited on 1 March 2018, at 07 : 44. About Wikipedia

Question: who was the first governor of reserve bank of india
Answer: Osborne Smith