Patel rap: Story of the bittersweet relationship between govt, the RBI Guv

One does not know, or for that matter may never know, whether Patel believed in demonetisation or not

Urjit Patel, the 24th governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has had an interesting relationship with the Centre. Taking over from the suave Raghuram Rajan wasn’t easy, but being demonised for demonetisation would have felt much worse. A lot has been written about Patel’s subservience to the government on the immediate ban of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, which anecdotal evidence suggests, hurt the unorganised sector badly.

Two years down the line, Patel and the government have more of a give and take relationship. On matters like giving an interim dividend to the Centre, he seems to be