NEW DELHI: India yesterday named a former International Monetary Fund chief economist as its new central bank governor as it grapples with a plunging currency and the slowest growth in a decade.
Raghuram Rajan (pictured) will head the Reserve Bank of India for a three-year term, replacing incumbent D Subbarao, who retires next month, the Finance Ministry said. “Mr Rajan will be the new central bank governor,” a senior Finance Ministry official told AFP. Rajan did his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is acclaimed for having predicted the 2008 global financial crisis — two years before it struck. He takes the central bank reins as India faces testing economic times — hit by a capital flight with investors worried about slow growth, a massive deficit, and stalled economic reforms. AFP
