Benegal Rama Rau
Sir Benegal Rama Rau, CIE, ICS was the fourth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1 July 1949 to 14 January 1957.
He was educated at Presidency College, Madras, and at King's College, Cambridge. Joining the Indian Civil Service in 1919, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1930, and was knighted in 1939. He was a member of the Indian Civil Service. 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 TT Krishnamachari.
From a Konkani-speaking Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family from Mangaluru, his elder brother Sir Benegal Narsing Rau was an Indian civil servant, 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. Married to 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, their younger daughter Santha Rama Rau became a travel writer, marrying and settling in the United States.
On joining the ICS and before joining the RBI he held the following posts.
When he returned to India he was appointed Chairman of the Bombay Port Trust. After serving in the post he once again served as a diplomat as the Indian Ambassador to Japan, and as the Ambassador to the United States. 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.
