T.V. Somanathan, Commercial Taxes Commissioner and Principal Secretary (Planning & Development) in the State government, is being considered for the post of Deputy Governor in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
A 1987 batch IAS officer, Dr. Somanathan, holds a Ph.D in Economics from the Calcutta University. He is also a qualified chartered accountant with a cost accountancy and company secretaryship background. He attended the interview for the RBI post on the invitation of the bank recently. Given his “impressive academic qualifications” and his stint in the Prime Minister’s Office as Joint Secretary and later as Additional Secretary, it is believed that Dr. Somanathan could make it to the RBI.
In the past too, IAS officers have served in the RBI as Deputy Governor. Y.V. Reddy, who belonged to the 1964 batch of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, was in the bank between September 1996 and July 2002, and D. R. Metha, who was a 1961 batch officer of the Rajasthan cadre served the central bank from November 1992 to February 1995.
