CHANGE OF GUARD AT MINT ROAD

CHANGE OF GUARD AT MINT ROAD
This weekend and the week that follows will find media debating the pros and cons of the change of guard that is happening at Reserve bank of India. 
Days before appointment of Urjit Patel as RBI’s 24th Governor, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had told media persons that they should not be inquisitive about the process of selection to the governor’s post and they would come to know when a decision was taken. He was, indirectly making the point that we are yet to put in place transparent processes and procedures for selecting candidates for top-most positions and if most of the time we get the right persons for the right posts, that could be attributed to the good luck of the country. 
While deciding on the appointment of the present SBI Chairperson also something similar happened about the ‘processes’ of selection. At that point of time, to 'select' the only candidate eligible for elevation, GOI went through 'expansion of catchment area' and a process which did not look much convincing! All these point to the need to create 'talent pools' in various disciplines and evolving transparency in selection processes. 
Now that there is certainty about a smooth ‘change of guard’ at Mint Road, which will also ensure continuity of policy stances of the central bank, many are inventing new directions in which RBI should move from September second week. 
The elevation of the senior-most Deputy Governor in whom the outgoing governor had so much of confidence and with whom Team RBI loved to work, has several advantages which need not be listed. The icing is there is no need to wait for the next Monetary Policy or the new governor’s first media interaction for the world to know Urjit Patel’s mind. Except for the added serenity and grace the person will derive when he enters the sanctum sanctorum of India’s central bank, Urjit Patel may be Rajan II for all practical purposes as far as the stakeholders are concerned.
M G Warrier, Mumbai 

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