Ex-ISRO Chief S. Somanath Appointed Part-Time Director of RBI Central Board; Anand Mahindra Re-appointed

22 August 2026National

The Government of India appointed former ISRO Chairman Somanath Sreedhara Panicker as a part-time, non-official Director on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India, and re-appointed Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Gopal Mahindra, both for four years with effect from 20 August 2026. Somanath served as ISRO's tenth Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space, from January 2022 to January 2025 — a tenure that included the Chandrayaan-3 soft landing near the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023, now commemorated annually as National Space Day. Part-time non-official directors are nominated by the Centre under the RBI Act, 1934.

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The RBI Central Board is constituted under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934; official directors are the Governor and up to four Deputy Governors | Up to 10 part-time non-official directors are nominated by the Central Government to the RBI Central Board | National Space Day is observed on 23 August, marking the Chandrayaan-3 landing at Shiv Shakti Point

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