Raghuram Rajan will start working at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) well ahead of taking over as the central bank's next governor on 5th of September.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on Wednesday notified that that Mr. Rajan had been appointed as an officer on special duty (OSD) at the central bank in the run-up to his formal taking over as governor.

Mr rajan has been appointed as OSD at the central bank for three weeks prior to his formal takeover as governor. The move aims at providing an overlap with current governor D. Subbarao, who is going to step down on 4th of September.

Previously, the government sent the chairmen and executive directors (EDs) to public sector banks they were appointed ahead of their formal appointments to let them become familiar with the banks.

The same practice was followed in case of Rajiv Takru's appointment as secretary of financial services at the union ministry of finance. He formally started as secretary of financial services on 1st of February, after spending two weeks as an OSD there.

But, this is the first time that a would-be RBI governor has been sent to the central bank as an OSD ahead of the start of his term.