Reserve Bank of India’s Deputy Governor Viral Acharya, who was in-charge of the monetary policy department, has resigned six months before the scheduled end of his term. “A few weeks ago, Acharya submitted a letter to the RBI informing that due to unavoidable personal circumstances, he is unable to continue his term as a Deputy Governor of the RBI beyond July 23, 2019,” Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a short statement on Monday. Consequential action arising from his letter is under consideration of the competent authority, it said. Since Acharya was appointed by Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the resignation would also be accepted by the panel. This is the second high-profile resignation in the past seven months at the RBI. In December last year, Urjit Patel had resigned as RBI Governor – nearly nine months before the end of his scheduled term over differences with the government. Acharya had joined the central bank on January 23, 2017, after Patel was elevated to the post of governor in September 2016. 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 as RBI deputy governor 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.
