Raghuram Rajan

Raghuram Govinda Rajan (born 3 February 1963) is an Indian economist and the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Between 2003 and 2006 he was Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. From September 2013 through September 2016 he was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India; in 2015, during his tenure at the RBI, he became the Vice-Chairman of the Bank for International Settlements.

Raghuram Rajan

Quotes

• Not taking risks one doesn't understand is often the best form of risk management.
  • From his book: Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy (2010)

• On the retail side, I particularly want to emphasize the use of the unique ID, Aadhaar, in building individual credit histories. This will be the foundation of a revolution in retail credit.
  • On Aadhaar, as quoted in "Raghuram Rajan's first speech as RBI governor", Firstpost (5 September 2013)

• Promoters do not have a divine right to stay in charge regardless of how badly they mismanage an enterprise, nor do they have the right to use the banking system to recapitalize their failed ventures.
  • As quoted in "Raghuram Rajan's first speech as RBI governor", Firstpost (5 September 2013)

• Expectations are high. Clearly I am not a superman. There is a little bit of euphoria in India. I have a wife and two kids.
  • On the expectations from him as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India, as quoted in "I am not a superman: Raghuram Rajan", Business Standard (14 October 2013)

• If you are an outsider looking at India, learn to filter out both the irrational exuberance and the excessive pessimism. We're subject to both. You will become manic-depressive if you follow our moods.
  • As quoted in "Economy will pick up by year-end, says RBI chief", Reuters (16 October 2013)

• A 007 James Bond image is very dangerous for a central banker to have.
  • On hearing that he was being compared to James Bond, as quoted in "Raghuram Rajan interview: ‘I’m no Bond. I’m a banker on the move’", The Times of India (31 August 2014)

• Indeed, if what you do offends me but does not harm me otherwise, there should be a very high bar for prohibiting your act. After all, any ban, and certainly any vigilante acts to enforce it, may offend you as much, or more, than the offence to me. Excessive political correctness stifles progress as much as excessive license and disrespect.
  • On excessive political correctness and bans, as quoted in "Hasty bans hinder progress: Raghuram Rajan", The Hindu (31 October 2015)

• Improving the opportunities across the board is extremely important to sustain the legitimacy of wealth. If a whole horde of people, whole sections of society don't feel they have the opportunities, then the focus is going to be on those who have it and who have made it and say that is illegitimate.
  • On the rising suspicions towards self-made people after the Panama Papers leak, as quoted in "‘Panama Papers’ furore: RBI Guv Raghuram Rajan says ‘dangerous’ to question legitimacy of self-made wealth", The Financial Express (7 April 2016)

• I think we have still to get to a place where we feel satisfied. We have this saying - "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king". We are a little bit that way.
  • On India's performance amid the 2015 world economy slow down, as quoted in "India 'one-eyed' king in land of blind, says Rajan", Business Standard (16 April 2016)

About Rajan

• If Rajan gets one more term you can safely say bye to all investment and therefore high growth in this country … he’s from [University of] Chicago so he is not fit for this country … there they believe that more free market the better but in India market failures take place and you’ve got to correct for that.
  • Subramanian Swamy, politician and economist, as quoted in "Rajan has failed, will have to go, says Swamy", The Hindu (10 May 2014)

• Mr Raghuram Rajan is an outstanding man who understands central banking. He is probably only one in the world among the crowds of professors at central banks that actually has a good grip on monetary policies and what you can or cannot achieve with them. He should get the Noble Prize in economics but the others are all money printers at heart, all of them.
  • Marc Faber, economist, as quoted in "Raghuram Rajan only central banker I trust, he should get Nobel in Economics: Marc Faber", The Economic Times (12 August 2015)

• Incidentally, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Raghuram Rajan, has single-handedly brought a huge slowdown to the Indian manufacturing sector and exports. As a doctor, he has believed that the best way to bring down the temperature of a patient (i.e., inflation) is to kill him (investment starvation).
  • Subramanian Swamy, politician and economist, as quoted in "The way out of the economic tailspin", The Hindu (18 September 2015)