Indian central bank chief to step down in surprise move

Reuters: India’s ‘rock star’ central bank governor Raghuram Rajan, feted by foreign investors but under pressure from political opponents at home, stunned government officials and colleagues on Saturday by announcing he would step down after just one three-year term.

Rajan, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is held in high esteem by policymakers and investors at home and abroad for overhauling the way the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) operates.

But he has faced mounting criticism from a faction within Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party for keeping interest rates high and over a perception that he had begun to stray into politics.

In a letter to RBI staff, Rajan said he planned to return to academia, even as he noted two of his actions – the creation of a monetary policy committee to set interest rates and the clean-up of the heavily indebted banking sector – remained unfinished.

“While I was open to seeing these developments through, on due reflection, and after consultation with the government, I want to share with you that I will be returning to academia when my term as Governor ends on 4 September 2016,” Rajan wrote.

“I will, of course, always be available to serve my country when needed.”

It will be the first time since 1992 that an RBI governor has departed after a single three-year term.

A senior government official told Reuters there were seven candidates on an initial long list to replace Rajan.

Hailed as a ‘rock star’ and ‘James Bond’ by India’s media when he was appointed by the previous Congress government in September 2013, Rajan won praise for his sure-footed handling of the country’s worst currency crisis in more than two decades.

“The government appreciates the good work done by him and respects his decision. A decision on his successor would be announced shortly,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a tweet on Saturday.

P. Chidambaram, the Congress finance minister who appointed Rajan, said he was profoundly saddened by the decision.

“I am not surprised at all. The government had invited this development through a craftily planned campaign of insinuations, baseless allegation and puerile attacks on a distinguished academic and economist,” he said in a tweet.

Rajan, who is on leave from the University of Chicago, had faced strident criticism from right-wing members of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, including parliament member Subramanian Swamy, who has waged a campaign against his economic policies.

Swamy, a Hindu nationalist and former Harvard economist, tweeted his delight that Rajan “has said he will go back to US Whatever fig leaf he wants for hiding the reality we should not grudge it. Say goodbye!”

Swamy had described Rajan as ‘mentally not fully Indian’.

Still, Rajan was known to have a good working relationship with Modi, who called the RBI governor a “good teacher” on economic matters, and officials had previously told Reuters that Modi’s administration would re-appoint the governor, should he wish to stay on.

Many of Rajan’s key accomplishments have come in close collaboration with the Modi government. Rajan pushed for inflation targeting to tackle India’s history of volatile prices, which was then made law by the government last year.