New RBI governor should follow his "dharma" to protect central bank's autonomy, says Rangarajan

Mumbai: Shaktikanta Das is not the first bureaucrat to be appointed as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor and should follow his “dharma” to protect RBI’s autonomy like his predecessors, former central bank governor C Rangarajan said on Monday. Das should work closely with the government on all the pressing issues, Rangarajan said. [caption id=“attachment_5717441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Shaktikanta Das. News18[/caption] “Many Delhi men (bureaucrats) have come to the RBI, this is not the first time. Once they take on new responsibility, they have to defend the autonomy of the Reserve Bank,” Rangarajan told PTI on the sidelines of an event at the IGIDR here. He added that this is the “dharma” which former governors including himself as also D Subbarao have spoken about in the past. “I do hope that he is able to work out a better understanding between the Reserve Bank and the government without sacrificing in any way the autonomy of the RBI,” he added. Rangarajan, who has also headed the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council, said there is also a need for the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to disclose a few essential details on the recent change in GDP computation. “CSO is a reputable organisation and it has to come out very clearly as to the methodology it actually adopted in revising the earlier numbers,” he said. Rangarajan said there are questions about the deflator that has been used and also on data on company affairs. He was speaking after the release of Dilip Nachane’s book. The former RBI governor seemed to suggest that the RBI can look at accommodating other factors if the headline inflation is down. “As so long as you are within the comfort zone, you can look at other objectives. But once the equation goes beyond, then your exclusive focus should be on inflation,” he said.