Govt may announce Raghuram Rajan's successor today

The government is expected to announce a successor to outgoing RBI governor Raghuram Rajan today. Rajan's term ends on September 4, 2016.

Rajan was appointed as RBI chief by the previous UPA government in September 2013.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are expected to meet on Thursday to decide the name of next RBI governor.

Follwing are the names doing the rounds and likely to be picked as Rajan's successor.

1) Urjit Patel

Urjit Patel, the Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India, seems to be the top contender given he has closely worked with Rajan and possesses sound expertise on macroeconomic management. However, his less exposure to banking sectors' problems may turn out to be a dampener.

2) KV Kamath

BRICS Bank President K V Kamath has been a most towering personality of Indian private banking sector. As a Chairman of ICICI Bank, Kamath played a crucial role on expanding the retail banking in the country.

3) Arundhati Bhattacharya

Arundhati Bhattacharya is the Chairperson of India's largest public sector bank State Bank of India. In 2015, Forbes Magazine listed her as the 30th most influential woman in the world. In 2016, Bhattacharya was elevated by Forbes to the 25th position. If government selects her to replace Rajan, she will become the first woman to hold RBI's top position.

4) Shaktikanta Das

Shaktikanta Das is the Joint Secretary (Budget) in Department of Economic Affairs. The renowned bureaucrat has earlier held the assignment of Secretary, Department of Revenue in the finance ministry and is also a close confider to team Modi.

5) Arvind Subramanian

Hand-picked by NDA government, Arvind Subramanian currently serves as India's Chief Economic Advisor. He is an internationally known economist and could be the top choice for the government to replace Rajan.

6) Arvind Panagariya

Niti Aayog Chief Arvind Panagariya holds a PhD from Princeton University and has served as a Professor of Economics at Columbia University. He has been the chief economist of the Asian Development Bank and has also worked for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

7. Kaushik Basu
Basu who is stepping down as the World Bank's chief economist has entered the fray to lead the Reserve Bank. Basu has worked as chief economic advisor to the government of India. Basu holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics. He has received honorary doctorates from several institutes, including IIT, Mumbai, and Fordham University, New York.