The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India plays a chief executive role in India’s central bank. He is the ex-officio chairperson of its Central Board of Directors. Indian Rupee currency notes, issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). All Indian currency notes bear the governor’s signature. Since its establishment in 1935 by the British colonial government, the RBI has been governed by 24 governors. The term of office runs for three years. RBI was established on 1st April 1935, under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. It was nationalised on 1st January 1949. The emblem of RBI is Panther and Palm tree. Its logo was derived from East India Company Double Mohur. It is a member bank of the Asian Clearing Union. A central board of directors controls it. There are 4 Deputy Governors, 2 Finance Ministry representatives, four directors to represent local boards headquartered at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and New Delhi, ten government-nominated directors to describe essential elements from India’s economy along with Chief Governor In RBI(Reserve Bank of India).
C. D. Deshmukh was the first Indian governor. The bank’s 15th governor, Manmohan Singh, later became India’s 13th prime minister. The present governor of RBI is Shaktikanta Das, who took over from Urjit Patel on 12 December 2018.
List of governors of the Reserve Bank of India–
| No. | Officeholder | Term start | Term end | Background |
| 1. | Osborne Smith | 1 April 1935 | 30 June 1937 | Banker |
| 2. | James Braid Taylor | 1 July 1937 | 17 February 1943 | ICS Officer |
| 3. | C. D. Deshmukh | 11 August 1943 | 30 May 1949 | ICS Officer |
| 4. | Benegal Rama Rau | 1 July 1949 | 14 January 1957 | ICS Officer |
| 5. | K. G. Ambegaonkar | 14 January 1957 | 28 February 1957 | ICS Officer |
| 6. | H. V. R. Iyengar | 1 March 1957 | 28 February 1962 | ICS Officer |
| 7. | P. C. Bhattacharya | 1 March 1962 | 30 June 1967 | Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer |
| 8. | Lakshmi Kant Jha | 1 July 1967 | 3 May 1970 | ICS Officer |
| 9. | B. N. Adarkar | 4 May 1970 | 15 June 1970 | Economist |
| 10. | Sarukkai Jagannathan | 16 June 1970 | 19 May 1975 | ICS Officer |
| 11. | N. C. Sen Gupta | 19 May 1975 | 19 August 1975 | ICS Officer |
| 12. | K. R. Puri | 20 August 1975 | 2 May 1977 | |
| 13. | M. Narasimham | 3 May 1977 | 30 November 1977 | Career Reserve Bank of India officer |
| 14. | I. G. Patel | 1 December 1977 | 15 September 1982 | Economist |
| 15. | Manmohan Singh | 16 September 1982 | 14 January 1985 | Economist |
| 16. | Amitav Ghosh | 15 January 1985 | 4 February 1985 | Banker |
| 17. | R. N. Malhotra | 4 February 1985 | 22 December 1990 | IAS Officer |
| 18. | S. Venkitaramanan | 22 December 1990 | 21 December 1992 | IAS Officer |
| 19. | C. Rangarajan | 22 December 1992 | 21 November 1997 | Economist |
| 20. | Bimal Jalan | 22 November 1997 | 6 September 2003 | Economist |
| 21. | Y. Venugopal Reddy | 6 September 2003 | 5 September 2008 | IAS Officer |
| 22. | D. Subbarao | 5 September 2008 | 4 September 2013 | IAS Officer |
| 23. | Raghuram Rajan | 4 September 2013 | 4 September 2016 | Economist |
| 24. | Urjit Patel | 4 September 2016 | 10 December 2018 | Economist |
| 25. | Shaktikanta Das | 12 December 2018 | Incumbent | IAS Officer |