In a recent podcast interview, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan spoke about his salary and the perks of the job. He said that his salary was Rs 4 lakh per year, but the biggest perk was the official residence allotted to the RBI Governor.
The official residence
The official residence is a large house located on Malabar Hill in Mumbai, a few blocks away from the home of billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani. Rajan said that he did a calculation at one point and estimated that the house could be sold for Rs 450 crore. “If we invested that, we could pay the entire top brass of the RBI their salary,” he said.
Other perks
In addition to the house, the RBI Governor also gets a car and other perquisites to help maintain the house. However, Rajan said that it is not a luxury car, as he believes that it would be inappropriate to use a luxury car for official purposes in a country like India.
Salary compared to other government officials
Rajan said that his salary was on par with other government officials, such as the Cabinet Secretary. However, he said that RBI Governors do not get a pension, as most of them have already received a pension from their previous civil service jobs.
Rajan’s personal case
In Rajan’s case, he does not need a pension because he went back to his job as a professor at the University of Chicago Booth after stepping down as RBI Governor. However, he said that he believes that it is appropriate for RBI Governors to get a pension if they do not have another source of income after leaving the job.
