Raghuram Rajan on demonetisation: We may never know real cost and benefits

At his book launch, emphasises need to clean up balance sheets of 'unhealthy' banks before merger

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said that it was better to merge banks when they were healthy, and more time should be devoted to cleaning up their balance sheets.

“There is a little bit of a catch-22 situation — if you don’t have the capacity and management capability, it is better not to pursue a merger before bringing them,” said Rajan. Speaking at the launch of his book I Do What I Do in Chennai, Rajan, currently professor of finance at the University of Chicago, said, “You have to be careful, because