New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday appointed former finance secretary Shaktikanta Das as the new Governor of RBI, a day after Urjit Patel resigned from the post due to disagreements with the government.
The Narendra Modi government chose a former bureaucrat and not an economist as the new governor, is seen as an attempt to have a person to head RBI who is more in line with New Delhi's thinking during crucial year of 2019 when Lok Sabha election are going to take place.
Mr Das, 63, is looked as someone who is close to the government and as economic affairs secretary was the part of the select core team which undertook demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in 2016.
Mr Das, a history graduate from the prestigious St. Stephen's College in Delhi, will take over as the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India for a period of three years, as per the government notification.
His appointment means that the next RBI Board meeting, currently scheduled for December 14, is expected to go smoothly and likely to undertake steps on concerns raised by the North block.
The immediate announcement of a replacement of Mr Patel by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister, according to analysts is an attempt by the government to send the signal that it is in control and dismiss any suggestion of vacuum or unstability created due to resignation of Mr Patel.
It also means that the government wants to send signal that Mint street will have to follow direction given by the political leadership and no longer take an independent line from the concerns of the
government. The last IAS officer to head the RBI was D. Subbarao, who demitted office in September 2013.
In a tweet, the finance ministry said the government has “accepted the resignation of Dr Urjit Patel who resigned yesterday from the said post.”
Mr Das, a 1980-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, retired as finance and economic affairs secretary in May 2017. He is currently a member of the Finance Commission of India, and serves as the government’s representative at the G20 summits.
Mr Das, a history graduate from the prestigious St. Stephen's College in Delhi, will take over as the 25th Governor of the RBI for a period of three years, as per the notification.
The government wants to send a signal that the Mint street will have to follow direction given by the political leadership and can no longer take an independent line from the concerns of the government.
