Had fair amount of independence as RBI chief, faced no govt interference: Rajan

Raghuram Rajan completed his three-year term in 2016.

Speaking of the government’s relations with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said that personally he had enjoyed a substantial degree of independence from any interference in his functioning.

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan listens to questions during a news conference at the RBI headquarters in Mumbai, August 9, 2016.(Reuters File Photo)

“I basically had a fair amount of independence... I worked with two governments,” Rajan said at the release here of his book “I do what I do”, which he described as essentially a compilation of the speeches he delivered as the RBI Governor.

“I managed to carry out the agenda that I had set out in my first speech,” he said.

Rajan recalled he became RBI Governor in September 2013 at a time of crisis for the Indian economy.

“There was no interference in carrying out my agenda. I had a good relationship with both governments... and I kept them informed,” he added.

In 2016, however, on completion of his three-year term, Rajan became the first Indian central bank governor since Independence not to have his tenure renewed.

A few months before his term finished, Rajan announced that he would be returning to his teaching position in the US at the end of his tenure at the RBI.