RBI Governor Urjit Patel and his deputies have got a big pay hike with the Government more than doubling their basic salary to Rs2.5 lakh and Rs2.25 lakh per month, respectively.
The “basic pay of the Governor and Deputy Governors” have been revised retrospectively with effect from January 1, 2016 and marks a huge jump from Rs90,000 basic pay so far drawn by the Governor and Rs80,000 for his deputies.
Still, their salaries are much lower than the top executives of various banks regulated by the RBI.
The monthly emoluments of these top RBI officials include ‘basic pay’, dearness allowance and ‘other payments’, which totalled Rs 2,09,500 in case of Patel as on November 30, 2016, as per the latest information disclosed on the RBI website.
In response to a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the central bank disclosed that as per a Finance Ministry communication, dated February 21, the basic pay of the Governor and Deputy Governors have been revised.
Following the revision, the basic pay of the Governor stands increased to Rs2,50,000 per month while the same for a Deputy Governor would be Rs2,25,000, RBI said.
The pay hike is “with effect from January 1, 2016”.
Dearness Allowance would be notified by the central government from time to time while “all other allowances (are) to be paid at existing rates as if the pay has not been received with effect from January 1, 2016,” the RTI reply said.
The RBI, however, did not disclose the new gross pay for Patel and his deputies following the revision in basic pay.
With the earlier basic pay of Rs90,000, Patel got a DA of Rs1,12,500 and ‘other payments’ of Rs7,000 -- totalling to a gross pay of Rs2,09,500. The increase in the basic itself would take his gross pay to nearly Rs3.70 lakh.
Patel, who took over the reins of the central bank in September 2016, had received a salary of Rs2.09 lakh in October -- the first full month in office. This amount was same as drawn by his predecessor Raghuram Rajan in August that year.