Viral Acharya
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Viral Acharya has resigned six months before the scheduled end of his term, sources said Monday. He was in charge of the monetary policy department.
Acharya's term as Deputy Governor was to end on January 20, 2020. This is the second high profile resignation in the past six month at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He had joined RBI in 2017.
In December, governor Urjit Patel resigned nearly nine months before the end of his schedule term over differences with the government. Acharya was a close aide of Patel. Shaktikanta Das was appointed governor shortly after Patel quit.
After Viral Acharya's October 2018 speech, differences emerged between RBI and the Centre. "The risks of undermining the central bank's independence are potentially catastrophic," he had said.
Acharya had joined the central bank on January 23 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.
