Subbarao was born in the small village of Yazali, near Bapatla, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India.
The bank attracted negative media attention in June 2013, when newspapers reported the story of victimisation of the bank's ex-Director Shri Devidas Tuljapurkar, who had in October 2012 written to the RBI Governor Dr D. Subbarao regarding fraudulent loans given by the bank.