RBI Deputy Guv, Viral Acharya, quits 6 months before his term ends

 RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya, in-charge of the monetary policy department, has resigned six months before the scheduled end of his term, sources said today.

This is the second high-profile resignation in the past six months at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
In December, Governor Urjit Patel resigned nearly nine months before the end of his scheduled term over differences with the government.

Acharya had joined the central bank 23 January last year after Patel was elevated to the post of Governor in September 2016.

The RBI is now left with three Deputy Governors N S Vishwanathan, B P Kanungo and M K Jain.
Acharya, a New York University economics professor who once called himself the “poor man’s Raghuram Rajan”, was appointed for three years.

He took over at a time when the central bank was facing criticism for repeated changes in the rules related to deposit and withdrawal of money, post-demonetisation.

Acharya was a strong believer in the central banks’ independence and autonomy, which he considered crucial for economic progress and financial stability, and had even warned that any government
undermining their monetary authorities would face the wrath of financial markets and economic fires.

Acharya had said many nations are seeing the central bank’s independence being compromised and asserted that independent central bankers will remain undeterred.

The Reserve Bank has gone through a tumultuous time in the past two-and-a-half years, starting with a change in policy-making where rate-setting shifted to a six-member panel that experts commended as a step in the right direction, to the surprise resignation of Governor Urjit Patel in December 2018.