Sri Venkitaramanan was the eighteenth 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 ...

. He served for a period of 2 years, from 1990 to 1992. Earlier, he served as Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, from 1985 to 1989. Venkitaramanan is seen by many as a brilliant crisis manager of the

balance of payments In international economics, the balance of payments (also known as balance of international payments and abbreviated BOP or BoP) of a country is the difference between all money flowing into the country in a particular period of time (e.g., a ...

crisis in India in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His timely and decisive action laid the ground work for India salvaging the crisis, at a time when India's foreign-exchange reserves had almost depleted.

Early life and background

Venkitaramanan was born at the town of

Nagercoil Nagercoil, also spelt as Nagarkovil ("Temple of the Nāgas", or Nagaraja-Temple), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state, India. Situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula, it lies on an ...

in Padmanathapuram division of the princely-state of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

, to a Tamil Iyer family. He completed his master's degree in Physics from University College Thiruvananthapuram,

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

and also earned a master's degree in Industrial Administration from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, Pittsburgh, USA.

IAS

Venkitaramanan was a member of the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

. He was posted with the Government of India and with the state of Tamilnadu at various times. He also served the Government of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

as adviser.

Finance Secretary

He served as Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India for a period of four years from 1985 to 1989.

Governor of Reserve Bank

Venkitaramanan served as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 22 December 1990 to 21 December 1992. At the time of his appointment as RBI Governor, India was in the midst of a

crisis, with fast-depleting foreign exchange reserves. His decisive actions helped India tide over the crisis. During his tenure as RBI Governor, the infamous

Harshad Mehta scam Harshad Shantilal Mehta (29 July 1954 — 31 December 2001) was an Indian stockbroker and a convicted fraudster. Mehta's involvement in the 1992 Indian securities scam made him infamous as a market manipulator. Of the 27 criminal charges br ...

was exposed by

Sucheta Dalal Sucheta Dalal (born 1962) is an Indian business journalist and author. She has been a journalist for over two decades and was awarded a Padma Shri for journalism in 2006. She was the Financial Editor for the ''Times of India'' until 1998 when ...

Later years

After retirement, Venkitaramanan served as the Chairman of Ashok Leyland Investment Services Ltd., New Tirupur Area Development Corporation Ltd. and Ashok Leyland Finance Ltd. He also served in the boards of Reliance Industries Limited, SPIC, Piramal Healthcare Ltd, Tamil Nadu Water Investment Co. Ltd and Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd. His daughter Girija Vaidyanathan — a 1981, Tamil Nadu cadre

officer — served as the Chief Secretary of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Published books

Venkitaramanan has published three books, Indian Economy: Reviews And Commentaries - Vol I, Indian Economy: Reviews And Commentaries - Vol II, and Indian Economy: Reviews And Commentaries - Vol III.

In popular culture

Actor

Anant Mahadevan Anant Mahadevan (born 28 August 1950), also credited as Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, is an Indian screenwriter, actor, and film director of Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi language, Marathi, Tamil language, Tamil films and television shows. Having been ...

portrayed Venkitaramanan in

Scam 1992 ''Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story'' is an Indian Hindi-language biographical financial thriller streaming television series on SonyLIV directed by Hansal Mehta, with Jai Mehta serving as the co-director. Based on the 1992 Indian stock market ...

, a

Sony Liv SonyLIV is an Indian over-the-top freemium streaming platform owned by Culver Max Entertainment. SonyLIV was introduced in 2013 as the first OTT service in India. As a streaming service, it is carrying content from its local networks, includi ...

's original web series based on

1992 Indian stock market scam The 1992 Indian stock market scam was a market manipulation carried out by Harshad Shantilal Mehta with other bankers and politicians on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The scam caused significant disruption to the stock market of India, defrauding inv ...

Harshad Mehta Harshad Shantilal Mehta (29 July 1954 — 31 December 2001) was an Indian stockbroker and a convicted fraudster. Mehta's involvement in the 1992 Indian securities scam made him infamous as a market manipulator. Of the 27 criminal charges br ...

References

People from Kanyakumari district Living people Governors of the Reserve Bank of India Indian bankers Indian Administrative Service officers University of Kerala alumni Tepper School of Business alumni Businesspeople from Tamil Nadu 1931 births {{India-bio-stub