In Shaktikanta Das’ farewell message, a ‘big thank you’ to ‘Team RBI’
Shaktikanta Das, the outgoing governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), thanked ‘Team RBI’ in his farewell message ahead of formally demitting office on Tuesday.
Shaktikanta Das posted on X, “A BIG thank you to the entire Team RBI. Together, we successfully navigated an exceptionally difficult period of unprecedented global shocks. May the RBI grow even taller as an institution of trust and credibility. My best wishes to each one of you.”
The former bureaucrat also thanked stakeholders of the financial sector and the economy. He also extended his ‘heartful thanks’ to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, noting that under her, the fiscal-monetary coordination was “at its best and helped us to deal with multiple challenges during the last six years”.
Das was “immensely grateful” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the “opportunity to serve the country” as RBI chair, and for the prime minister’s “guidance and encouragement”.
“Benefited a lot from his (PM’s) ideas and thoughts,” he added.
In December 2018, Das was the government’s surprise pick as the leader of the central bank. He succeeded Urjit Patel.
In 2021, the government gave Das an extension of three years. There were reports last month of a second extension for Das. The extension would have made him the longest-serving head of the Reserve Bank in nearly 70 years.
The 67-year-old, who hails from Odisha’s capital Bhubaneswar, is a retired 1980-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre. During his career, he served in various capacities for the Union and Tamil Nadu governments. With the Centre, he served as Economic Affairs Secretary, Revenue Secretary and Fertilizers Secretary at various stages.
Das is an alma mater of Delhi’s prestigious St Stephen’s College.