ISRO's former chief S Somnath appointed to RBI Board

S SOMNATH, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was appointed to the central board of the Reserve Bank on Thursday.

Somnath, who retired from ISRO in January 2025, has been appointed as a part-time, non-official director on the central board for a period of four years with effect from August 20, 2026, as per an official statement.

The aerospace engineer, who has served the space programme in different capacities, was appointed as the chancellor of the Chanakya University, a liberal arts varsity near Bengaluru, after retiring from ISRO.

Meanwhile, the RBI also reappointed billionaire Anand Mahindra for another four years as a part-time, non-official director on the central board, as per another statement.

Other members of the central board include Revathy Iyer, a retired officer from the Indian Audit & Accounts Service, who went on to become the Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General, Government Accounts, and Sachin Chaturvedi, Director General of the think tank Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).

Governor Sanjay Malhotra, Deputy Governors Swaminathan J, Poonam Gupta, SC Murmu and Rohit Jain, economic affairs secretary Anuradha Thakur and financial services secretary Sanjay Lohia are also on the central board.