NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The government on Monday appointed finance secretary Duvvuri Subbarao as the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He will succeed Dr Y V Reddy, whose term ends on September 5.
“The government has decided to appoint D Subbarao as the next governor of RBI,” finance minister P Chidambaram told reporters. Mr Subbarao would be appointed for a three-year period. He may, however, be considered for reappointment for another two years, as the RBI Act provides for appointment of a governor for a period of up to five years. This puts an end to speculation over who would take over the reins of the central bank from Mr Reddy, whose tough but sure handling of monetary policy has served India well in these times of global financial turbulence. RBI deputy governor Rakesh Mohan was among those who were in active consideration for the post. If he chooses not to continue at RBI, a younger professional economist could well take his place. Chief economic advisor Arvind Virmani is a likely candidate. An old RBI hand and the current vice-chancellor of Pune university Narendra Jadhav is another. Career Graph 2008 September RBI Governor 2007 May 1 Finance Secretary 2005 March 2 Secretary to Planning Commission 1990 June 4 Joint secretary Planning Commission 1988 July 15 Director in ministry of finance & company affairs 1972 IAS Officer Prior to his appointment as finance secretary in April 2007, Mr Subbarao served as secretary to the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council headed by Dr C Rangarajan. A brief stint as secretary, department of economic affairs, filled the gap between these two posts. He topped the civil services batch of 1972, as he did in most exams during his academic career, and worked in Andhra Pradesh, including a stint as finance secretary there. Exclusive: Subbarao to ET Within minutes of landing from his tour of Brazil, ET spoke to the jet- lagged finance secretary, who was still taking in the news of his appointment as RBI governor. “I have just got the news; it is a big responsibility. I can only say I will do everything to carry out my responsibility effectively.'' Although Mr Subbarao declined to elaborate on any issue in particular, the biggest challenge would be to keep inflation under check. He maintained that he did not have any formal indication of his new responsibility although he was willing to take up the challenge. Five years ago, when the then governor Bimal Jalan left RBI, well before the end of his extended term, he told his successor Yaga Venugopal Reddy that he was leaving when the going was good and it could be Mr Reddy’s turn to weather a storm. Duvvuri Subbarao also takes over as the 22nd RBI governor at a critical time when there are a lot of headwinds ahead. The macro- economic situation is challenging with the slowing down of growth and inflation worries. He will have to get into action straightaway with the next policy review in October. The other major test would be the review of the opening up of the banking sector to foreign banks and also approval of fresh bank licences, including to corporates. Source : Economic Times --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Kences1" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/kences1?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
