RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan says no to second term

Ending months of speculation, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has formally told his colleagues that he is not keen on a second term at the helm of the country's central bank and would return to academia when his tenure ends in September

Ending months of speculation, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has formally told his colleagues that he is not keen on a second term at the helm of the country's central bank and would return to academia when his tenure ends in September.

Raghuram Rajan

This was conveyed in a 888-word letter addressed to the RBI staff. Reflecting on his term as the 23rd governor of the Central Bank since September 2013, Rajan said the agenda he pursued was to help nurse India back on the path of recovery first and then growth. He went on to allude that while much was accomplished, a part of that task remained a work in progress.

"While I was open to seeing these developments through, on due reflection, and after consultation with the government, I want to share with you that I will be returning to academia when my term as governor ends on September 4, 2016," he said. "I will, of course, always be available to serve my country when needed," he added.

"I am an academic and I have always made it clear that my ultimate home is in the realm of ideas. The approaching end of my three year term, and of my leave at the University of Chicago, was therefore a good time to reflect on how much we had accomplished."

Stating that he will be returning to the US university, from where he is on a sabbatical, Rajan listed his unfinished agenda as seeing a monetary policy panel in place to broadly guide the Central Bank, and a clean-up of banks' balance sheets.

Much speculation had gone into a possible second term for Rajan, hailed by many as the best governor the central bank could have possibly had on its board during the difficult times India was going through, but also with some share of critics.

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