RBI governor Urjit Patel steps down

The Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel stepped down on Monday, citing “personal reasons” behind his resignation.

There have been speculations that the current differences between the Centre and the RBI could have led to this, and yet the move was surprising and shocking.

For many, it was difficult to take the resignation reason at face value. Patel’s differences with the government had been out in the open for some time. Last month, the RBI board met in Mumbai with the central bank agreeing to set up a panel on sharing surplus reserves along with restructuring loans of small businesses up to Rs 25 crore. But there have been talks that the Centre was interfering in the RBI’s independent and autonomous nature.

Patel took charge on September 4, 2016 after Raghuram Rajan resigned from the post on June 19 that year. Patel’s term was to end in September 2019.

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