He was born in 1927 and hails from Mydavolu village of Guntur District in Andhra Pradesh. Narasimham was the 13th governor of RBI and he served as the central bank head from May 2, 1977 to November 30, 1977. Narasimham was the first and so far the only governor to be appointed from the Reserve Bank cadre, having joined the Bank as a Research Officer in the Economic Department. He later joined the government and prior to his appointment as governor he served as Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs. After his short term as RBI governor, he served as India's executive director at the World Bank and later at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).