Sir Osborne Arkell Smith, KCSI, KCIE (26 December 1876 – 30 August 1952) was the first 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 ...

, a post he held from 1 April 1935 to 30 June 1937. Smith was a professional banker who served for 20 years with the Bank of New South Wales and 10 years with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. He then came to India in 1926 as Managing Governor of the

Imperial Bank of India The Imperial Bank of India (IBI) was one of the oldest and the largest commercial bank of the Indian subcontinent, and was subsequently transformed into the State Bank of India in 1955. Initially, as per its royal charter, it acted as the cen ...

. He was knighted in March 1929, and was invested with his knighthood by the

Governor-General of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...

Lord Irwin Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 19 ...

, at the new

Viceroy's House The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...

in New Delhi on 27 February 1930. Smith was further appointed a KCIE in the

1932 New Year Honours The 1932 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 29 December 1931. The recipients of honour ...

list and appointed a KCSI in February 1937.London Gazette, 1 February 1937
/ref> His stewardship of the Imperial Bank won him recognition in banking circles in India. Since his outlook on policy issues like the exchange rates and interest rates differed with that of the Government, he resigned before the completion of his term of office. Sir Osborne did not sign any

Indian rupee The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 ''paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use w ...

notes during his tenure.

References

'' Who's Who'' 1952, 1953 {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Osborne Indian bankers Governors of the Reserve Bank of India Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Knights Bachelor 1876 births 1952 deaths