Reserve Bank of India deputy governor KC Chakrabarty on Wednesday scotched speculation he has resigned after the central bank divested him of key portfolios.
Late Tuesday, Chakrabarty was stripped off key responsibilities. Sections of the press said the action followed comments he purportedly made last week suggesting the central bank?s steps to rein in inflation were not adequate.
?I have not resigned. I am sitting in my office,? Chakrabarty said, adding he does not wish to speak with news agencies.
Last week, the press quoted an RBI aide, who asked not to be named, as saying the rate hikes announced July 27 fell short.
The official said ?rate hikes should have come up much higher,? noting ?the RBI is injecting liquidity at 5% and inflation is at 10%. They will never be able to control inflation, everything else remaining the same.?
On Jul 27, RBI governor D Subbarao announced two rate hikes: a half point in the overnight borrowing (or reverse repo tender) rate and a quarter point hike in the lending rate (or repo) rate.
Late Tuesday, RBI divested Chakrabarty of key portfolios including Human resources development department, department of administration & personnel management, urban banks? department and rural planning and credit department.
Post the reshuffle, Chakrabarty will handle customer services department, department of information technology, inspection department and rajbhasha department.
The other portfolios handled by him will now be looked after by the three other deputy governors.
The Reserve Bank on Tuesday shuffled the portfolios of its four deputy governors?Usha Thorat, Shyamala Gopinath, KC Chakrabarty and Subir Gokarn. Gopinath, besides her existing departments, will look after the department of payments and settlement systems too.