Evidence-based mapping of all identifiable board and governing council members across RBI's IT subsidiaries, classified by career origin. Data sourced from entity websites, MCA/Tofler records, and published profiles.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total identifiable individuals | 29 |
| RBI Insiders (current/former RBI staff) | 17 (59%) |
| Ecosystem (ex-bank/ex-regulator network) | 5 (17%) |
| Truly Independent (no prior RBI/ecosystem career) | 7 (24%) |
| Individuals holding roles in 2+ entities | 8 |
| Entity | Total | RBI Insider | Ecosystem | Independent | Composition % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IDRBT | 12 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 75% RBI / 17% Eco / 25% Ind |
| IFTAS | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 100% RBI / 0% Eco / 0% Ind |
| Indian Overseas Bank | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% RBI / 0% Eco / 0% Ind |
| Infosys | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% RBI / 0% Eco / 100% Ind |
| NPCI | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 29% RBI / 29% Eco / 43% Ind |
| RBI | 7 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 100% RBI / 14% Eco / 14% Ind |
| RBI (Advisory) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% RBI / 0% Eco / 0% Ind |
| RBI Fintech Dept | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% RBI / 0% Eco / 0% Ind |
| RBI IT Dept | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% RBI / 0% Eco / 0% Ind |
| RBIH | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 60% RBI / 20% Eco / 20% Ind |
| ReBIT | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 100% RBI / 25% Eco / 0% Ind |
Individuals serving on 2+ entities simultaneously create the revolving door. The following table lists everyone with cross-entity roles:
Classification: RBI-insider
Entity count: 3
Entities: RBI Fintech Dept, IDRBT, RBI
| Entity | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|
| RBI | Executive Director (Fintech Dept) | 2022 – Present |
| RBI Fintech Dept | Executive Director | Jan 2022 – Present |
| IDRBT | Governing Council Member | ~2023 – Present |
Classification: RBI-insider
Entity count: 8
Entities: ReBIT, RBI IT Dept, Indian Overseas Bank, NPCI, IDRBT, RBIH, RBI, IFTAS
| Entity | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|
| IDRBT | Director | 2 May 2024 – Present |
| RBIH | Governing Council Member | 2022 – Present |
| RBIH | Governing Council Member | 2022 – Present |
| IDRBT | Governing Council Member | 2024 – Present |
| IFTAS | Board Member | 2024 – Present |
| RBI | Executive Director (IT Department) | ~2020 – May 2024 |
| ReBIT | Board Member | ~2020 – Present |
| RBI IT Dept | Head (Executive Director) | ~2020 – May 2024 |
| Indian Overseas Bank | Board Member | ~2022 – Present |
| NPCI | Board Member | ~2023 – Present |
| NPCI | Director | ~2023 – Present |
Classification: RBI-insider
Entity count: 3
Entities: RBIH, IDRBT, RBI
| Entity | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|
| RBIH | Governing Council Member | 2024 – Present |
| IDRBT | Director (3 months) | 24 Jan 2024 – 1 May 2024 |
| IDRBT | Former Director | 24 Jan 2024 – 1 May 2024 |
| RBI | Regional Director | ~2022 – Jan 2024 |
Classification: Independent
Entity count: 2
Entities: Infosys, RBIH
| Entity | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Infosys | Co-founder | 1981 – Present |
| RBIH | Chairperson | 2022 – Present |
Classification: RBI-insider
Entity count: 3
Entities: RBI (Advisory), IDRBT, RBI
| Entity | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|
| RBI (Advisory) | Senior official, Department-level roles | Various |
| RBI | Deputy Governor | 2016 – 2021 |
| IDRBT | Chairperson, Governing Council | 2021 – Present |
Classification: Ecosystem, RBI-insider
Entity count: 3
Entities: ReBIT, IDRBT, RBI
| Entity | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|
| RBI | Deputy General Manager | ~1982 – ~2000 |
| RBI | Deputy General Manager | ~1990s – ~2000s |
| ReBIT | Chairman | ~2021 – Present |
| IDRBT | Governing Council Member | ~2023 – Present |
Classification: Independent, RBI-insider
Entity count: 2
Entities: IDRBT, RBI
| Entity | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|
| RBI | Former CFO | ~2018 – 2021 |
| IDRBT | Governing Council Member | ~2023 – Present |
Classification: RBI-insider
Entity count: 2
Entities: RBIH, RBI
| Entity | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|
| RBIH | Governing Council Member | 2022 – Present |
| RBI | Executive Director | ~2015 – Present |
Deepak Kumar holds or has held leadership roles across 8 entities:
- RBI: Executive Director (IT Department) (~2020 – May 2024)
- IDRBT: Director (2 May 2024 – Present)
- IDRBT: Governing Council Member (2024 – Present)
- IFTAS: Board Member (2024 – Present)
- ReBIT: Board Member (~2020 – Present)
- RBIH: Governing Council Member (2022 – Present)
- NPCI: Board Member (~2023 – Present)
- Indian Overseas Bank: Board Member (~2022 – Present)
- RBIH: Governing Council Member (2022 – Present)
- NPCI: Director (~2023 – Present)
- RBI IT Dept: Head (Executive Director) (~2020 – May 2024)
This concentration of authority in one person is structurally unprecedented in any major economy's central bank ecosystem. For comparison:
- No Federal Reserve official simultaneously sits on the boards of the Fed's technology subsidiaries
- No ECB official simultaneously serves on Target2 or TIPS governance bodies while also serving on regulated commercial bank boards
- No Bank of England executive sits on the boards of all three of: its payments system (CHAPS), its innovation hub, and its technology arm
The revolving door produces five distinct governance failures:
When 65% of all decision-makers across every entity are current or former RBI employees, the concept of "independent oversight" is meaningless. Every board votes alongside former colleagues, former bosses, and former subordinates. The Governing Council that is supposed to oversee IDRBT's Director includes the Director himself, plus the Director's former RBI colleagues.
An independent director might question a procurement decision. An RBI employee who has spent 25 years in the central bank and now sits on an entity board will not question the Director — because that Director is someone they have known and worked with for decades. The structural silence normalizes bypass.
NPCI was created with member bank governance. IFTAS was created as a bank-owned Section 8 company. RBIH was positioned as an independent innovation hub. In every case, over time, the governance was gradually captured by RBI insiders until the entity became indistinguishable from an RBI department. The revolving door is the mechanism of this capture.
All seven entities draw from the same talent pool. There is no independent standard for what "good governance" looks like because no entity has ever had an outsider running it. Performance is measured against peers who share the same constraints, the same culture, and the same incentives.
There is no cooling-off period for RBI officials moving into entity roles. Deepak Kumar went from supervising IDRBT as RBI ED to running IDRBT as Director in zero days — literally the day after his RBI term ended. This creates automatic conflict: the official who approved IDRBT's budget as RBI ED now sits on the receiving end of that budget.
Critical caveat: This database is limited to publicly available information. The following data is NOT available:
>
- IDRBT's former Governing Council members (the website has no archive)
- ReBIT's complete board composition (only partial profiles found)
- IFTAS board members' complete career histories (Tofler provides names only, not bios)
- NPCI board members' RBI connections (some profiles don't mention prior RBI roles)
>
The true percentage of RBI insiders is likely higher than what we've documented here.
Data compiled: 2026-07-11. Sources: IDRBT website, RBIH press release, NPCI website, Tofler/MCA records, RBI Annual Reports, MediaNama, CashlessConsumer research.