Enjoyed free reign as RBI Governor under both govts: Raghuram Rajan

Mumbai: Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, whose book ‘I Do What I Do’ has been creating quite a stir on Tuesday said that he enjoyed a “fair amount of independence” while working with two governments.

Rajan was speaking at the launch of his book, excerpts of which have gone viral, especially where he says he had cautioned the government about the ill-effects of demonetisation.

Rajan's statement comes days after the central bank released data on demonetisation, according to which nearly 99 per cent on the scrapped notes came back into the banking system. The Modi government has been facing immense criticism from the Opposition ever since. 

According to a report in IANS, speaking to former RBI governor C Rangarajan, Rajan said "There was no interference in carrying out my agenda. I had a good relationship with both governments... and I kept them informed," he added.

However, he said there are times when the RBI chief has to put his foot down and speak out on issues, even if it is against the government.

“In that duty (as RBI governor), you sometimes have to say no to pressures that come down on you. You are not quite in the place of a bureaucrat and the mistake that some people make is treat the RBI governor as yet another bureaucrat,” he said.

On his statements regarding demonetisation, he said he wanted to set the record straight on demonetisation as the Parliament had a right to know what had really happened.

Finally breaking his silence after his controversial resignation in 2016, he said in his book: “At no point in my term was the RBI asked to make a decision on demonetisation”.

An economist by profession, Rajan was the one to have predicted the global economic meltdown of 2008.