The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Deputy Governor ViralAcharya has quit six months before the end of his term, sources said on Monday.
Acharya is the second top RBI official to quit afterGovernor Urijit Patel’s exit last December.
The sources said that Acharya, who joined as the RBI DeputyGovernor in January 2017, was against the central bank’s decision on repeatedcuts of repo rates to support the government’s public spending and consumptionboost measures to tackle the slowing growth.
Acharya viewed such steps as putting fiscal discipline intorisk and he did not want to be part of “those decisions”, sourcessaid.
The RBI, however, has not responded to queries on thisregard, neither has Acharya made any statement as yet.
To spur the economy, the Rserve Bank of India (RBI) had cutrepo rate by 25 bps to 5.75 per cent in June while switching to”accommodative” stance implying amenable to further cuts.
This is the third time on the trot that the six-memberMonetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided on a 25-basis points rate cut,making it a hat-trick of repo rate cuts.
The rate cut also comes in the backdrop of benign retailinflation. Following the MPC decision, the repo rate now stands at 5.75 percent against 6 per cent earlier.
Acharya will be now returning to the New York University’sStern School of Business in August instead of February 2020.
The market was at 39,120, down 72.10 points as of 10.17 a.m.on Monday.
With Acharya’s resignation, the RBI is now left with threeDeputy Governors — N.S. Vishwanathan, B.P. Kanungo and M.K. Jain.