EUROMONEY NAMES RAJAN BEST CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR

MUMBAI/HYDERABAD: Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan has been conferred with the Best Central Bank Governor award for 2014 by Euromoney magazine.

Euromoney said Rajan’s tough monetary medicine combatted the storm ravaging the deficitridden economy in the recent emerging market crisis.

“Now, he is battling vested interests to arouse a sleepy financial system for over one billion people...remarkably, the internationally-renowned economist, who earned acclaim for his warnings in 2005 of an upcoming global crisis of sorts, has, for the past year been true to his word,” Euromoney said.

Rajan received Euromoney’s Central Bank Governor of the Year Award 2014 in Washington on October 10, the RBI said in a release on Wednesday.

“As he confronted capital outflows, the rupee at record lows, and over-blown but palpable fears India was marching towards an Asia-crisis style abyss, Rajan duly administered tough monetary medicine to ailing bond and currency markets,” Euromoney added.

Meanwhile, while addressing a conference in Hyderabad, Rajan said that the RBI would issue guidelines for small finance banks in a few weeks as it pushed for financial inclusion backed by technology, “In the next few weeks, we will put out guidelines inviting applications for what we call small finance banks. These are banks that will cater to smaller customers across the country. The detailed guidelines will also be put out,” he said.

Referring to payment banks, he said they should tie-up with regular commercial banks to offer different services.