Rao Bahadur (in South India)  and Rai Bahadur (in North India),  R.B., was a title of honour bestowed during British rule in India to individuals for faithful service or acts of public welfare to the Empire. From 1911, the title was accompanied by a medal called a Title Badge. Translated, Rao means "prince", and Bahadur means "brave" or "most honourable". Bestowed mainly on Hindus, the equivalent title for Muslim and Parsi subjects was Khan Bahadur. For Sikhs it was Sardar Bahadur.

Those awarded the Rao Bahadur title were usually drawn from the lower rank of Rai Sahib, both of which were below the rank of Dewan Bahadur. These titles were subordinate to the two orders of knighthood: the Order of the Indian Empire and the higher Order of the Star of India. A holder of a Rai Sahib, Rai Bahadur or Dewan Bahadur title came lower in the order of precedence.

Selected recipients awarded the Rao/Rai Bahadur title

Academics and education
 Pt. Sadashiva Jairam Dehadrai, Professor of Sanskrit, Jabalpur College.
 Priya Nath Dutt, assistant registrar, Punjab University
  S.N (Satya Nand) Mukarji, the sixth, and longest-serving () principal of St. Stephen's College, Delhi from 1926 to 1945. (St. Stephen's is a foundation constituent college of Delhi University.) Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos from Queens' College, Cambridge. Member, Lindsay Commission on Higher Education

Activists and politicians
 S. A. Saminatha Iyer, Indian independence activist.
 Manik Lal Joshi, chief minister of Bundi, Rajputana
 Motilal Nehru, Indian independence activist, he later surrendered it during the non-co-operation movement of 1921.
 Mahadev Govind Ranade, Indian scholar, social reformer, judge and author. He was one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress.
 Jaswantraj Mehta Indian politician, elected to the Lok Sabha; elected to Jodhpur State Legislative Assembly in 1947
 C. Jambulingam Mudaliar (1857–1906), Indian politician and freedom-fighter
 Gopal Hari Deshmukh, Indian writer, activist, and thinker from Maharashtra, popularly known as Lokhitwadi
 T. M. Jambulingam Mudaliar (1890–1970), philanthropist and freedom fighter who gave  of land to establish NLC India Limited
 Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu, Chief Minister of Madras Presidency.
 Seth Vishandas Nihalchand, Sindhi politician, social reformer, philanthropist
 Chhotu Ram, Minister for Agriculture and Home Affairs, erstwhile Punjab, 1945. First Indian-origin Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly
 Cruz Fernandez, businessman, and municipal chairman. He was the longest-serving chairman of Tuticorin municipality and is considered the father and architect of modern Tuticorin (now called Thoothukudi)

Civil servants and government officials
 Jagan Nath Bhandari Raj Ratan, Dewan of Idar State
 Lada Damodar Das, extrajudicial assistant commissioner in the Punjab
 Dewan Jaggatnath, secretary to the municipal committee and district board, Dera Ismail Khan
 Sahu Parsotam Saran Kothiwala, member of the district board, Moradabad
 Lala Jai Lal, member of the Municipal Committee, Simla
 A. Savarinatha Pillai, Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Madras Presidency; winner of King's Coronation Award for Distinguished Public Service, London
 Akshey Kumar Sarkar, superintendent, Department of Commerce and Industry, Government of India
 Betharam Sarma, sub-deputy collector, Tezpur, Assam

Commerce and industry
 Jamnalal Bajaj, industrialist; Bajaj later returned the title
 Dewan Bahadur P. Somasundaram Chettiar, Coimbatore - industrialist and pioneer in textiles. 
 Jagmal Raja Chauhan (1887–1974), better known as "Rai Bahadur Jagmal Raja", industrialist and railway contractor, private banker, aviation pioneer and philanthropist
 Jairam Valji Chauhan  (or "Chouhan"; 1892–1956), better known as "Rai Bahadur Jairam Valjee", was a Kutchi railway contractor, mill-owner, miner and philanthropist, at Jairamnagar and Raigarh
 Seth Sarupchand Hukamchand (1874–1959) of Indore, Holkar State, merchant–industrialist and a prominent leader of the Jain community 
 Gujar Mal Modi, founder of the Modi Group
 Mohan Singh Oberoi, founder of Oberoi Group
 
 Jamuna Das Choudhury of Sahebganj, Muzaffarpur, industrialist
 Hariram Goenka (1862–1935), businessman and cofounder with his brothers, including Badridas Goenka, of Goenka group of Kolkata
 Badridas Goenka  (1883–1973), industrialist and business tycoon; cofounder of the original Goenka Group from Kolkata, of which the RPG Group is a successor; first chairman of the State Bank of India

Engineering, science and medicine
 Kailash Chandra Bose , first knighted Indian physician.
 Upendranath Brahmachari  (1873–1946), Bengal-born physician and scientist. Synthesised urea stibamine, determining its effectiveness as a treatment for the disease Kala Azar
 Balkishen Kaul, surgeon, lecturer, and superintendent of Lahore Medical college
 Puttana Venkatramana Raju (1894–1975), civil engineer, industrial advisor to government of India, educationist
 Dr Ram Dhan Singh, pioneer agricultural scientist, principal, College of Agriculture, Lyallpur, erstwhile Punjab, 1947

Law and justice
 Babu Ram Sadan Bhattacharji, deputy magistrate, Bengal
 Chaudhary Dewan Chand Saini , (born 1887) of Gurdaspur, Punjab, distinguished lawyer of Punjab High Court, leader of the criminal bar; elected member of Legislative Council of colonial Punjab
 Rajendranath Dutt, judge, Bengal
 Soti Raghubans Lal, subordinate judge, Shahjehanpur
 Sadh Achraj Lal, honorary magistrate and member of the municipal board, Mirzapur
 Jwala Prasad, government pleader
 Raghunath Sharan, District Judge in Bihar
 Babu Bahadur Singh, honorary magistrate, Pilibhit 
 Babu Shuhrat Singh, Zemindar of Chandpur and honorary magistrate, Basti
 N S Nanjundiah (1879–1953), of Nanjangud distinguished advocate of Chief Court of Mysore and a sheristadar.

Literature and arts
 Appu Nedungadi,  author of Kundalatha, the first novel published in Malayalam
 M.V. Dhurandhar , noted painter and postcard artist who was an alumni of the Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai, where he was also later a professor

Philanthropy, religion and charity
 Ranchhodlal Chhotalal, textile mill pioneer and philanthropist
 Dharmarathnakara Arcot Narrainsawmy Mudaliar, philanthropist
 Amba Prasad, philanthropist of Delhi
 Salig Rām (1829–1898), Postmaster-General for North-Western Provinces; disciple of Shiv Dayal Singh, later succeeding him as guru. Often known by the honorific "Huzur Maharaj" 
 Ranadaprasad Saha, philanthropist
 Yele Mallappa Shetty (1815–1887), philanthropist who constructed Bangalore's first obstetrics hospital, funded Vani Vilas Hospital construction, and restored Kaadu Malleshwara Temple, Bangalore. The name of the Yele Mallappa Shetty Lake commemorates his contribution to the construction of drought-relieving water storage in the Bangalore region
 Sardar Bahadur Jagat Singh (Sant) (1884–1951), Lyallpur, pre-partition Punjab Surat Shabd Yoga practitioner and guru 
 Gubbi Thotadappa, businessman, philanthropist, founded Dharmachathra (free lodging places for travellers) and free hostels for students throughout Karnataka

Police and emergency services
 Tirath Singh Bakshi, Deputy Inspector General of Police, United Province
 Purna Chandra Lahiri, Indian Police officer, Calcutta
 P. K. Monnappa, South Indian Police Chief of three states, Madras, Hyderabad and Mysore.
 Jacob Devasahayam, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Madras
 Satyen Nath (S.N.) Mukherjee, First Indian-origin Deputy Commissioner of Indian Police, Calcutta

Other

 Babu Nalini Kanta Ray, Dastidar of Assam

See also
 Rai (Indian)
 Nawab Bahadur (disambiguation)
 Raj Ratna

References

Titles in India
Titles in Bangladesh
Orders, decorations, and medals of British India
Men's social titles
Awards disestablished in 1947