He was criticised for doing what a central banker has to do. It will be seen by the world at large that an anti-inflation policy, a policy of cleaning up NPAs of banks and being tough on banks’ balance sheets are not policies which meet with approval in India – Meghnad Desai, Indian-origin economist
New Delhi : Calling RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s exit a ‘bad omen’ for the Indian economy, eminent economists and former policymakers said it will be seen by the world as India’s non-approval to a policy against inflation and bad loans.
Rajan’s colleague at Chicago University Booth School of Business Luigi Zingales termed it is a “huge loss for India”, while Harvard University professor Gita Gopinath said it was “deeply disappointing” that the government instead of fighting hard to keep Rajan has let him go amid all the distasteful comments by those questioning his commitment to India’s best interests.
Indian-origin economist and British Labour Party leader Meghnad Desai said he feels “sorry for India’s reputation abroad”, while World Bank’s Chief Economist and India’s former Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu said Rajan has been one of the finest central bank governors anywhere. 53-year old Rajan, a former IMF Chief Economist with a reputation to have rightly called the 2008 global financial crisis, yesterday made public his decision against a second term as RBI Governor after his currently three-year tenure ends on September 4, 2016.
Rajan indicated he was willing to take a shot at a second term, saying he was “open to seeing” through his unfinished work on containing inflation and cleaning up the books of bank, but said no to a second term “on due reflection, and after consultation with the government”. This is being seen in some quarters as his unhappiness over the way things have developed in recent months with regard to a barrage of personal attacks on him from some quarters and the government reaction to that.
Desai said it is a pity that Rajan decided to go and the task of his successor, whoever he or she is, will be very difficult. “He was criticised for doing what a central banker has to do. It will be seen by the world at large that an anti-inflation policy, a policy of cleaning up non-performing assets of banks and being tough on banks’ balance sheets are not policies which meet with approval in India,” Desai told PTI.
Former Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram also expressed his disappointment and said Raghuram Rajan’s decision not to seek a second term would be very costly for the economy.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s decision to not seek a second term is a “personal one” which everybody should respect, ICICI Bank MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar said. She said under him, the RBI played a major role in steering the economy in a volatile world.
