RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya quits 6 months before his term ends: Report

He took office at the RBI in January 2017 for a three-year term. His departure follows Urjit Patel’s sudden resignation in December last year amid rising tension between the central bank and the government about the RBI’s independence.

Viral Acharya, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, resigned six months before his term ends, Business Standard reported citing him.

Viral Acharya, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, resigned six months before his term ends, Business Standard reported, citing him. (Mint File Photo)

Acharya, who was in charge of monetary policy, will return to New York University as an economics professor in August instead of February 2020, according to the newspaper.

He took office at the RBI in January 2017 for a three-year term. His departure follows Urjit Patel’s sudden resignation in December last year amid rising tension between the central bank and the government about the RBI’s independence. Shaktikanta Das was appointed governor shortly after Patel quit, with the RBI reversing its tight monetary policy stance since then.

A spokesman for the RBI said on Monday he was unaware of the development. Acharya didn’t immediately reply to a message from Bloomberg seeking comment.

The rupee fell in offshore trading on the report. The dollar/rupee 1-month contract was up 0.1% to 69.98.

Business Standard cited people it didn’t identify as saying Acharya handed in his resignation a few weeks before the RBI’s June monetary policy committee meeting. When asked for further comments, he told the newspaper: ``A schoolteacher once told me: ‘When your work speaks for itself, do not interrupt.’”

Michael Patra, executive director at the RBI, and Sanjeev Sanyal, principal economic adviser at the Ministry of Finance, are among possible successors to Acharya, the report said.