Govt appoints Viral V Acharya as RBI Deputy Governor

Government on Wednesday appointed Viral V Acharya, a professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at the New York University (NYU), new Deputy Governor at the Reserve Bank of India.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared the appointment for three years. He is taking over at a time when the central bank is facing criticism for repeated changes in the rules related to deposit and withdrawal of money, post-demonetisation.

Acharya is known for his research in theoretical and empirical analysis of systemic risks of the financial sector, its regulation and genesis in government-induced distortions, according to the profile on the NYU website. The research areas also span across credit and liquidity risks, agency-theoretic foundations as well as their general equilibrium consequences, it says.

Also read : What RBI wants you to know on the Rs 500, Rs 1,000 note exchange

Acharya is is the C V Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at the New York University Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern).

Also read : Exchange of old Rs 500/1,000 notes to continue at RBI counters

An alumnus of IIT, Mumbai, with a degree of Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering in 1995 and PhD in Finance from NYU-Stern in 2001, Acharya was with London Business School (2001-08) and served as the Academic Director of the Coller Institute of Private Equity at LBS (2007-09) and a Senior Houblon-Normal Research Fellow at the Bank of England (Summer 2008).

Soon after his resignation as the RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan had confessed that he wanted to stay but could not reach the “right kind of agreement” with the government on the extension of his tenure.

Rajan, whose outspoken views on various issues were often seen as being against the views of the government on economic and even non-economic matters, said,

Because of unfinished task, I was willing perhaps to stay provided we could reach the right kind of agreement, we didn't. That's where it ended

In an interview to noted journalist Karan Thapar on India Today channel, Rajan defended his controversial speech on perceived growing intolerance in the country, which had riled the government. His three-year term came to an end on September 4.