After 39 years, Vishwanathan leaves RBI due to ill-health

N S Vishwanathan, the senior-most deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, demitted office three months ahead of his extended tenure on Tuesday on health grounds after serving the nation's monetary authority for 39 years.

His departure comes at critical time for the central bank and also for the country given the crisis arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Citing deteriorating health, the 62-year-old Vishwanathan had on March 6 requested the central bank to relieve his from duties by the end of the month.

With this, he becomes the second deputy governor to leave under Shatikanta Das who took over as the governor in December 2018. Deputy governor Viral Acharya left in June 2019, six months ahead of his tenure.

In his farewell note sent to colleagues and the rest of the RBI family, Vishwanathan said, "For someone who has been with the Bank for nearly 39 years, the thought that I would, in a couple of hours from now, become an ex-RBI official' leaves a very eerie feeling. I am at the same time elated because there is still RBI' in that term."