Since taking the helm in late 2013, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has set out to bring fresh ideas to the conservative institution and has eyed recruiting more specialists from outside, but they have been few and far between.Read more
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has hired a former Nomura algorithmic trader, officials said,
taking a rare step to recruit externally as it seeks expertise needed to make India's financial
markets deeper and more responsive to monetary policy moves. Since taking the helm in late
2013, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has set out to bring fresh ideas to the conservative
institution and has eyed recruiting more specialists from outside, but they have been few and
far between. In late 2014, Rajan, who has lamented a dearth of capable economists in India,
brought in former IMF economist Prachi Mishra to bolster economic research. Senior officers
at the central bank typically rise through the ranks having joined at a junior level. Some are
seconded to foreign central banks to gather more specialist experience. The new hire,
Gangadhar Darbha, joined as a consultant at the start of this month, officials with direct
knowledge said. The description for his job, given in an advertisement posted by the RBI, said
it carried responsibility for developing and improving derivatives markets and examining
currency futures, interest rate futures and offshore non deliverable markets. "The RBI strongly
believes such new markets, new products will help in monetary policy transmission," said one
official with knowledge of the RBI's thinking. A second official hailed the benefits of hiring
externally. "Product development requires exposure to and experience in the global market.
Such external hires will help add value to the RBI," the official said. Rajan has a keen interest in
market products. Under him, the RBI took external feedback last year to revise rules governing
bond futures trading, and make the market succeed at the third attempt. While futures have
been well received, markets for other products like credit default swaps remain difficult.
According to officials, Rajan wants to bring more consultants into a central bank, where hiring
outsiders, even on short-term contracts, is still fairly rare. S.S. Mundra, the RBI's deputy
governor in charge of human resources, said the move to bring in outside expertise was not
entirely new and remained limited. "Occasionally, we have been doing it. It is just an extension
of that policy," Mundra said.
