RBI Governor Urjit Patel quits and stuns government after truce
The Reserve Bank of India board meeting was scheduled in just 4 days. After a prolonged and bitter stand-off with the government, Urjit Patel, who took over as the RBI governor just before demonetisation, issued a statement late Monday afternoon announcing his resignation “effective immediately”.
Urjit Patel was born in Kenya. He is 55-years-old. He became the first governor in the post-liberalisation era to quit before the end of his term. He said that it was “on account of personal reasons.” Most did not believe his explanation. Although a couple of people who know him well said that the last few months of mounting tension had taken a toll on his health and he had begun to wonder if it was “worth it”.
One of these people said, “He was clear that he neither wanted nor would he get, an extension beyond his current three-year term which was to end next September. For him, the cost of quitting wasn’t very high. Also, he felt the government was pushing too hard, to the point of undermining the RBI’s autonomy.”
Patel’s resignation came as a surprise to most. The general perception was that the storm kicked up the October 23 board meeting had passed with the subsequent meeting on November 19 which was marked “cordiality”.
Even the government has been taken surprise. This was certainly a sudden exit of a governor who was handpicked as Raghuram Rajan’s successor. While Patel did thank his RBI colleagues, his farewell statement was devoid of even a ritualistic acknowledgement of anyone in the government.
The government, on its part, did not seem unduly perturbed, with plans already afoot to install his successor as early as next week.
The departure of Urjit Patel was not only a shock to the government but also a shock to the nation.
