Rewind 2018: Urjit Patel's resignation is a beginning of a new story

After months of speculation Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel submitted his resignation on December 10, the first incumbent to do so since economic liberalisation. Tensions had been building for some time, especially from August, with the government appointing two loyalists to the RBI board — maverick accountant and Swadeshi Jagran Manch co-convenor S Gurumurthy and cooperative banker and former Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad treasurer Satish Marathe. Their induction was seen as disturbing the intricate relationship between the central bank and government. It coincided with the RBI coming under pressure to part with a larger share of its capital reserves to shore up government finances and to ease lending restrictions on public sector banks under the Prompt Corrective Action