Potential successors to RBI chief Raghuram Rajan

Kaushik Basu, 64, is retiring as the World Bank's chief economist, having been on a sabbatical from Cornell University in the United States where he is a professor in economics and international studies.

Basu was chief economic adviser to the India's Congress-led government between Dec. 2009 and July 2012 - a time when policy makers were battling inflation with high interest rates.

Basu suggested opening up the retail sector to more foreign investment to fight food inflation and revamp India's inefficient supply chain, and also advised the RBI to follow the approach of Turkey's central bank, which managed to bring down inflation while also cutting interest rates. This would put him towards the dovish end of the monetary policy spectrum.

Basu holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics. He studied under the guidance of Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, a critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

URJIT PATEL

⁠⁠⁠One of the RBI's four deputy governors, Patel, 52, was reappointed in January for three years. He has run the central bank's monetary policy department since 2013 and is viewed as a leading contender for the governor's job.

Seen as a close lieutenant to Rajan, Patel headed a committee that introduced landmark changes including a switch to inflation-targeting and adopting consumer prices as the new benchmark instead of wholesale prices. The changes he helped drive are considered to be among the most significant monetary policy reforms since India opened up its economy in 1991.

Patel, whose remit at the RBI included managing money markets, has faced criticism from market participants, with some complaining that he kept liquidity tight at a time when the RBI was lowering rates, starving banks of cash.

Patel, according to Nomura, is considered a monetary 'hawk'.

SUBIR GOKARN

Gokarn, 56, a former deputy RBI governor, currently serves as an executive director at the IMF. He looked after monetary policy during his three years at the central bank until the end of 2012.

During his tenure as deputy governor, Gokarn focused on an increase protein consumption-driven inflation, which was a reason for the wholesale price inflation (WPI) index pushing higher at the time. He also laid greater stress on core WPI, essentially demand-led inflation.

Nomura said it views Gokarn as having a neutral policy stance. His candidacy has been backed by former RBI governor D. Subbarao.

ARUNDHATI BHATTACHARYA

A high-profile banker, Bhattacharya has been at the helm of India's largest lender - State Bank of India - since late 2013 and has earned praise from investors for her management of the bank's mountain of bad debt. She was named in the Forbes list of the world's 100 most powerful women.

Bhattacharya, 60, whose term as the chair at State Bank of India ends later this year, was reportedly among the candidates interviewed to head India's capital markets regulator before the government made a last-minute decision to extend the term of the incumbent. She has spent her entire career in the banking sector and never held any policy roles.

Nomura sees Bhattacharya as a "more dovish candidate."

RAKESH MOHAN

Mohan, 68, had two stints as a deputy governor of the RBI. He also served as secretary at the department of economic affairs at the finance ministry and held positions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Mohan was in charge of monetary policy, financial markets, economic research and statistics at the RBI.

Nomura pegs Mohan as neutral in his monetary policy stance. The oldest of the field of candidates, he has just taken up a position at Yale University although a source familiar with his plans indicated he was reluctant to take on the post.