Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

Benegal Rama Rau CIE, ICS (1 July 1889 – 13 December 1969) was the fourth Governor of the

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...

from 1 July 1949 to 14 January 1957.

Early life and family

He was born in a Konkani-speaking

Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin Chitrapur Saraswats are a small Konkani-speaking community of Hindu Brahmins in India. They are traditionally found along the Kanara coast and call themselves ''Bhanaps'' in the Konkani language. This is a small community from India spread th ...

family from

Mangaluru Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

. His elder brother Sir

Benegal Narsing Rau Sir Benegal Narsing Rau (26 February 1887 – 30 November 1953) was an Indian civil servant, jurist, diplomat and statesman known for his key role in drafting the Constitution of India. He was the Constitutional Advisor to Constituent Assembly ...

went on to become an

Indian civil servant Indian civil servants includes five principal sub-categories of officials: *Administrators of the native states of India *Administrators of British India who came as servants of the East India Company before the formation of the ICS in 1853 *Membe ...

, jurist, diplomat and statesman known for his key role in drafting the Constitution of India, and his younger brother B Shiva Rao became a journalist and politician. He was educated at Presidency College of

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, and at King's College in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He married

Dhanvanthi Rama Rau Dhanvanthi, Lady Rama Rau (1893–1987) was founder and president of the Family Planning Association of India and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. She was married to Sir Benegal Rama Rau, the noted civil servant, and was th ...

, of Kashmiri Brahmin descent and a leader in the Indian women's rights movement who was the International President of

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

and the founder of

Family Planning Association of India The Family Planning Association of India (FPA India) is a registered charity in India. Established in 1949 by Dhanvanthi Rama Rau and Avabai Bomanji Wadia, the organisation has 40 local branches across the country that promote sexual health and ...

, their younger daughter

Santha Rama Rau Santha Rama Rau (24 January 1923 – 21 April 2009) was an Indian-born American writer. Early life and background While Santha's father was a Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin from Canara whose mother-tongue was Konkani, her mother was a Ka ...

became a travel writer, marrying and settling in the United States.

Career

Joining the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

in 1919, he was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

(CIE) in 1930, and was knighted in 1939. He was a member of the

. While he had the longest tenure as Governor of the RBI, it was cut short when he resigned just before the expiry of his second extended term, due to differences with Finance Minister

T. T. Krishnamachari Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachari (1899–1974) was an Indian politician who served as Finance Minister from 1956 to 1958 and from 1964 to 1966. He was also a founding member of the first governing body of the National Council of Applied Econo ...

. On joining the ICS and before joining the RBI he held the following posts. * Under-Secretary and Deputy Secretary to the Government of

(1919–1924) * Finance Department (1925–1926) as Secretary to the Indian Taxation Committee * Finance Department (1926–1928) as Deputy Secretary * Simons Commission (1928–1930) as Financial Adviser * Industries Department Joint Secretary * Round Table Conference as Secretary * Indian Bill (1931–1934) in the Joint Select Committee of Parliament * Deputy High Commissioner for India in London (1934–1938) * High Commissioner for India in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

(1938–1941) When he returned to India he was appointed Chairman of the Bombay Port Trust (1941–1946). After serving in the post he once again served as a diplomat as the Indian Ambassador to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(1947–1948), and as the Ambassador to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(1948–1949). His last position was as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He has been the longest-serving R.B.I Governor to date.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rau, Benegal Rama 1889 births 1969 deaths Mangaloreans People from Dakshina Kannada district Knights Bachelor Indian Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Governors of the Reserve Bank of India Indian bankers Indian civil servants Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Presidency College, Chennai alumni

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

Ambassadors of India to the United States 20th-century Indian judges Konkani people High Commissioners of India to South Africa University of Madras alumni 20th-century Indian economists