Letter to BS: RBI should be allowed to function as an autonomous body

There is scope to dispel the knee-jerk reactions of a handful about RBI's autonomy. The intellectuals must deliberate the issue objectively and decide

On the autonomy of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the strong headed former Finance Minister T T Krishnamachari had said, “RBI was no more than a subordinated department of the finance ministry”. Now, when the top brass of the RBI and the government of India are at loggerheads, what the former prime minister Manmohan Singh had said in 2014 has surfaced. Singh had said, “The finance minister is always superior and the RBI governor can’t defy him”. This view of Singh is reflection of his quiet and down-to-earth personality. But, in sum and substance, Singh's submissive view is not