Das wraps up RBI tenure

Much of Das’s tenure was marked by actions that earned him acclaim, but challenges arose in his second term

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Shaktikanta Das will step down as the 25th governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday, at a time when the war on inflation is ongoing and economic growth has taken a sudden slow turn.

Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman (finance) and Piyush Goyal (commerce and industry) had called for rate cuts after GDP growth slowed to 5.4% in the July-September quarter. But Das stuck to the RBI's inflation targeting mandate and held the repo rate steady on 6 December following his last meeting with the central bank's monetary policy committee (MPC).

Das, one of RBI's longest-serving governors, took charge in 2019 following his predecessor Urijit Patel's sudden departure.

One of his first actions was to set up a committee to review RBI's economic capital framework. Following the recommendations of the committee, the RBI has been transferring its surplus to the Centre each year.