Rajan continued as RBI Governor upon India's independence in 1947, becoming the first Indian to be appointed to the post.

Rajan, who succeeds D Subbarao, will be the first non-civil servant in 10 years to steer the RBI. The previous non-IAS RBI Governor was Bimal Jalan, who had an almost six-year stint that ended in 2003.

C Rangarajan, who is the chief economic advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, served as head of the central bank from December 1992 to November 1997.

Subbarao's predecessor Y V Reddy, like him, was an IAS officer and Finance Secretary and had a stint of five years from 2003-08.

The first Governor of the central bank was Sir Osborne Smith, appointed by the British Crown. He was succeeded by another Britisher and Indian Civil Services officer Sir James Braid Taylor in 1937, after which Deshmukh took over.
 

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