The chequered legacy of Shaktikanta Das at the Reserve Bank of India
The 25th Reserve Bank governor steered the economy through the pandemic and kept a tight grip on inflation, but held back growth.
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Since the Reserve Bank of India was established in 1935, it has had 25 governors, 14 of whom were bureaucrats and seven were economists. Five of the 14 bureaucrats were secretaries in North Block before crossing over to head Mint Street.
Most of them had a background in economics, unlike Shaktikanta Das, the bank’s 25th governor, who holds a master’s degree in history. Das stepped down as governor on December 10, ending a six-year tenure.
Veteran English economist John Keynes was said to have been so impressed by the first Indian RBI governor, CD Deshmukh, that he recommended him to be the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, which was opposed by USA.
YV Reddy, the bank’s 21st governor from 2003 to 2008, steered the Indian banking system through the 2008 global liquidity crisis, winning praise from Nobel Laureate and American economist. “If America had a central bank chief like YV Reddy, the US economy would not have been in such a mess,” Stiglitz said in 2009.
Despite the scepticism Das faced for not having an economics background, his legacy speaks for itself: success in defying the pandemic years to ensure financial stability, building up sizeable foreign exchange reserves of $702bn , fostering a modern digital system...
