| Honorific-Prefix: | Sir |
| Benegal Rama Rau | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | CIE ICS |
| Office3: | Ambassador of India to Japan |
| Term Start3: | 1947 |
| Term End3: | 1948 |
| Office2: | Ambassador of India to the United States |
| Term Start2: | 1948 |
| Term End2: | 1949 |
| Order: | 4th |
| Office: | Governor of the Reserve Bank of India |
| Term Start: | 1 July 1949 |
| Term End: | 14 January 1957 |
| Predecessor: | Sir C. D. Deshmukh |
| Successor: | K. G. Ambegaonkar |
| Birth Date: | 1889 7, df=y |
| Alma Mater: | King's College, Cambridge |
| Occupation: | Civil servant |
| Signature: | Benegal Rama Rau signature.jpg |
Sir Benegal Rama Rau CIE, ICS (1 July 1889 – 13 December 1969[1] [2]) was the fourth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1 July 1949 to 14 January 1957.[3]
He was born in a Konkani-speaking Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin[4] family from Mangalore. His elder brother Sir Benegal Narsing Rau went on to become an Indian civil servant, jurist, diplomat and statesman known for his key role in drafting the Constitution of India, and his younger brother B Shiva Rao became a journalist and politician.[2]
He was educated at Presidency College of Madras, and at King's College in Cambridge.[2]
He married Dhanvanthi Rama Rau, of Kashmiri Brahmin descent and a leader in the Indian women's rights movement who was the International President of Planned Parenthood and the founder of Family Planning Association of India, their younger daughter Santha Rama Rau became a travel writer, marrying and settling in the United States.[5]
Joining the Indian Civil Service in 1919, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1930,[6] and was knighted in 1939.[7] He was a member of the Indian Civil Service. While he had the longest tenure as Governor of the RBI, it was cut short when he resigned just before the expiry of his second extended term, due to differences with Finance Minister T. T. Krishnamachari.[3]
On joining the ICS and before joining the RBI he held the following posts.[8]
When he returned to India, he was appointed Chairman of the Bombay Port Trust (1941–1946). After serving in the post he once again served as a diplomat as the Indian Ambassador to Japan (1947–1948), and as the Ambassador to the United States (1948–1949). His last position was as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He had been the longest-serving R.B.I Governor to date.[9]