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 ...

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 f ...

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 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, and at King's College in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, 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. Cam ...

. He married Dhanvanthi Rama Rau, of Kashmiri Brahmin descent and a leader in the Indian women's rights movement who was the International President of Planned Parenthood and the founder of Family Planning Association of India, their younger daughter Santha Rama Rau 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 p ...

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. On joining the ICS and before joining the RBI he held the following posts. * Under-Secretary and Deputy Secretary to the Government of Madras (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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

(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 (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 territori ...

(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 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