B. N. Adarkar

Who is B. N. Adarkar?

Bhaskar Namdeo Adarkar was the ninth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 4 May 1970 to 15 June 1970. His term was the second shortest after Amitav Ghosh who had served for only 20 days. His term was short since he was filling in as interim before S. Jaganathan took over.

Unlike his predecessors who were from the Indian Civil Service, Adarkar was an economist and had served in the office of the Economic Adviser of the Government of India. Prior to that he had held various important positions in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. He was the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank before filling in as interim Governor. In March 1923 before Indian independence he was appointed by the Government of India to create a health insurance scheme for industrial workers. A year later the report he submitted became the basis for the Employment State Insurance Act of 1948.

During his tenure the Indian Rupee notes of denominations 2, 5, 10, and 100, commemorating the birth centenary of Mahatma Gandhi was reissued on 24 August 1970, these notes bear his signature, the earlier issue bears the signature of L. K. Jha. Due to his short interim term his signature does not appear on any other Indian rupee notes.