SME Times News Bureau | 12 Dec, 2018
Former Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das on
Wednesday assumed charge as RBI Governor after Urjit Patel abruptly resigned
from the post amidst a tiff with the government on the central bank's autonomy.
"Assumed charge as Governor, Reserve Bank of India. Thank you each and
everyone for your good wishes," the new incumbent said in a Tweet.
Das, who as Economic Affairs Secretary steered the monetary situation
post-demonetisation, was appointed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor on
Tuesday.
Industry bodies like FIEO and FICCI welcomed the appointment
of the new Governor. FIEO expressed hoped that Das would take steps to increase
credit to the export sector.
However, the Congress alleged that he would play to the
tunes of the government and that choosing a bureaucrat who defended
demonetisation, instead of an eminent economist, will diminish the institution.
Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said Das was the second person to be
appointed at a key post for defeinding the 2016 demonetisation move and it
showed the government's insensitivity towards common people. The Congress
leader was apparently refering to the recent appointment of Krishnamurthy
Subramanian as the Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) as the first such instance.
"Government has appointed two persons who vocally supported demonetisation
to two key posts. What does it say about the Modi government? Is government
telling the people of the country 'we don't care what you think, we will do
exactly as we please?" Chidambaram said in a tweet.
Das, a retired 1980-batch IAS officer from the Tamil Nadu
cadre, was a member of the 15th Finance Commission of India and India's Sherpa
to G20. Having a master's degree from St. Stephen's College, he earlier served
as Joint Secretary in the Expenditure Department of the Finance Ministry.
In a development that came as an embarrassment for the government, Patel
resigned on Monday citing "personal reasons" even as his various
predecessors hinted that the decision was rooted in the recent controversy
involving the government and the central bank.
His resignation came against the backdrop of the tiff between the government
and the central bank over the liquidity and credit crunch in the economy that
provoked an extraordinary meeting of the RBI board on November 19.