Raghuram Rajan's last monetary policy announcement held no surprise, with the Repo rate retained at 6.5 per cent. There is plenty of liquidity in the banking system, thus not necessitating an urgent dose of rate cut. If all goes well, a rate cut may come in October, at the hand of his successor.
Through it all, however, Rajan's face ran the gamut of emotions.
Rediff.com takes its readers through the various moods of Raghuram Rajan.
Hmm, D-day is finally here! On the last day that he took centre-stage as the RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan ponders over the tempestuous last three years – his biggest challenge to contain inflation; his bitter-sweet relationship with the Modi government; and finally the ugly tirade unleashed against him by Subramanian Swamy.
We are almost there! Forget about 8-9 per cent growth, moving ahead India will be lucky to maintain a GDP growth at over 7.5 per cent as global turmoil will have a negative effect.
Thank you, Rain Gods! Leaving his high profile job, Rajan has one thing less to worry about -- poor performance of the southwest monsoon and its impact on food inflation. The rains might have been a godsend for cereals and pulses.
Have I won the war on inflation? September 4, 2013, Raghuram Rajan moved to Mumbai's Mint Road from Delhi's North Block with the challenging job of controlling inflation. Rajan is exiting the RBI at the end of his three–year term with no decisive victory in the war on consumer inflation. At the last reading (in June), the consumer price index (CPI) inflation was at 5.77 per cent, very close to the upper band of 6 per cent.
During his tenure, inflation came down to below 6 per cent from near double-digit levels. But it was not Rajan's miracle alone. A good part of the credit for that should also go to the crash in commodity and crude oil prices.
The RBI has targeted inflation at 5 per cent by early next year and further to 4 per cent -- but that is not Rajan's headache anymore.
Goodbye to all that! Back at his teaching job soon, Rajan would love to see the next governor doing the balancing act of keeping the Modi sarkar in a good mood, control inflation, and boost growth. Easier said than done!
Photographs: Shashank Parade/PTI; Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
