New Delhi: BJP MP Subramanian Swamy’s rantings against the RBI governor is now being countered in the cyberspace. An online petition seeking a second term for RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has gone viral with over 37,000 people signing it.
This even as commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday backed Dr Swamy’s attack on Dr Rajan saying high interest rates have hit industry especially small and medium enterprises. Earlier in a complete rebuff to Mr Swamy, finance minister Arun Jaitley made it clear that the decision on Dr Rajan will be taken by the government without succumbing to any pressure.
The petition started by Bengaluru based Rajesh Palaria a week ago had just 2,500 signatures till Saturday but has picked up since then. In the petition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Palaria said Dr Rajan has been doing a great job by balancing and manoeuvering the Indian economy through the populism which endangers it.
Dr Rajan’s current three-year term as RBI chief is ending this September.
Meanwhile, in an apparent criticism of Dr Rajan’s monetary policies, Ms Sitharaman said that high interest rates are impacting cost competitiveness of the industry, especially small and medium enterprises.
“I have already said that the input cost cannot be so high. Particularly, if we keep in mind those industries, say for small and medium industries, who do not have any group companies or holding companies outside from where they can get cheap credit. So interest rates do have a bearing on the cost competitiveness of industries,” Ms Sitharaman said in an interview to a news channel.
Asked about Dr Swamy attacking the RBI governor for affecting fortunes of mid sized corporates by keeping the interest rates high, she said: “Mid-sized corporates have been engaging with us. They have also voiced this. SMEs have voiced it. Industry, when interacting with the ministry, has also expressed similar views.”
