Lakshmi Kant Jha (1913–1988), born into a Maithil Brahmin family of Darbhanga and educated at Cambridge, was one of independent India’s most distinguished public servants. He served as the 8th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (1967–70) — the first RBI Governor to sign currency notes in Hindi — and later as Secretary to Prime Ministers, Ambassador to the United States, and Governor of Jammu & Kashmir.
An economist and administrator of the first rank, he remains the most eminent figure of Mithila in the world of Indian finance and statecraft.