What was the salary of ex-RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan? The answer may leave you in shock!
RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan opened up about his tenure's financial aspects, disclosing his annual salary and other perks.
Rajan, who led the RBI from 2013 to 2016, emphasised that the most significant benefit of the role was not the monetary compensation but the privilege of residing in a spacious house near Dhirubhai Ambani's residence on Malabar Hill in Mumbai.
«I don’t know what the current salary is, but in my time it used to be Rs 4 lakh a year. The biggest perk is the house. You get a really big house, a few blocks away from Dhirubhai Ambani’s house in Mumbai on Malabar Hill,» Rajan stated during the podcast.
Calculating The Value Of Perks
The former RBI Governor contemplated the value of the official residence, revealing, «If we sold the house…we’d get about Rs 450 crore. If we invest that, we could pay the entire top brass of the RBI their salary. We could just move into an apartment. But it is a splendid house.»
When questioned about the appropriateness of the Rs 4 lakh per annum salary, Rajan compared it to the Cabinet Secretary's pay, stating, «I think it is on par with the Cabinet Secretary. It’s what government officials get. You don’t get other perks that government officials get, you don’t get a pension. But you get, I think, medical facilities. I don’t get a pension.»
Rajan delved into the reasoning behind the absence of pensions for RBI governors, highlighting their status as civil servants who already receive pensions from their civil service careers.
However, he acknowledged an exception for one former governor who was not a civil servant, emphasising the importance of recognising his extensive service to the RBI and the government.
On the topic of perks, Rajan noted, «You get a car, you get a
