Economics
With Rajan Undone by Indian Politics, Pressure Rises on Modi
- Finance minister says successor will be announced shortly
- Rajan decision said to have caught Modi government by surprise
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Raghuram Rajan will exit India’s central bank after unnerving political leaders with calls for free speech and religious expression. The focus now shifts to whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi can find a successor able to command credibility both with investors and his Hindu-based party.
The man who captured international attention with a prescient 2005 speech warning about a buildup of global financial risks on Saturday declared he’ll leave the Reserve Bank of India at the end of his term in September. The outgoing governor made clear that he was ready to continue: “I was open to seeing these developments through,” he said of his work on reining in inflation and addressing bad loans in the banking system.