RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya resigns citing personal circumstances

Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Viral Acharya who made an earnest case for autonomy for the banking sector regulator, quit six months ahead of the scheduled end of his deputation.

RBI's youngest deputy governor post-1991 economic reforms Acharya joined the RBI on January 23, 2017.

Viral Acharya, who was in-charge of the monetary policy department, would return to a teaching position at New York University's Stern School of Business, as per a Business Standard report on Monday.

Due to unavoidable personal circumstances, Viral Acharya is unable to continue as deputy governor beyond July 23, RBI said in a statement.

Acharya would be joining his New York-based family from which he has been away during his tenure at RBI.

This is the second high profile resignation in the past six months at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In December, governor Urjit Patel resigned nearly nine months before the end of his scheduled term over differences with the government.

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.