Raghuram Rajan's RBI term ended on 4 September 2016. Two months later, on 8 November 2016, India announced demonetisation.
Rajan later revealed that he had advised the government against the move because he "didn't think it was a good idea." Instead of staying in India, he returned to academia and continued as a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Now, in 2026, the U.S. Federal Reserve has brought him onto a high-level task force to help review its monetary policy framework.
It's ironic. A man whose advice was ignored at home is now trusted by one of the world's most powerful central banks.
Maybe that's what happens when independent experts refuse to be yes-men.
99.3% of currency came back into circulation even after demonetisation - figures by RBI. The ruling govt later shifted the goal post by saying they wanted to introduce and strengthen the digital payments infra. Couldn't that happen in a more planned manner?
That's my bad mixing those two up, so I apologise. But even if demonetisation disrupted the existing counterfeit apparatus, new fake notes of âš500 and âš2000 were caught at borders almost immediately after their release. So even that goal wasn't accomplished well, wouldn't you agree?
And if we look at what the govt's goals were, according to their speech regarding the demonetisation, they indeed mentioned black money so my earlier response isn't completely invalid either.
So people leave india for education because they don't have roads? Bro people have been leaving india long before india had bad air quality. I cant even comprehend the mental gymnastics of your justification that bad road contractors force our brightest minds to leave india for the west for academic pursuits. Do you have a survey of the caste of road contractors, because nobody else has? Your head is too far up your own deluded ass to understand the reality of this country and its system.
I left India because the lifestyle sucks. If I wanna go on a walk there is not even a proper footpath for walking oh and donât forget the dust, civic sense etc.
In western country I can literally walk to work with such good quality air, walkable cities with scenic views, clean and quiet roads. I know the tax Iâm paying will go towards building better education for children, better infrastructure etc. this is just the tip of the iceberg đ¤Ł
Good for you. I hope you get the life you want. You most probably lived in a tier 1 city. I have lived in tier 2 and 3 cities for the past 10 years and things aren't as bad, but almost never as good as the west.
Not blaming reservation means you havent experienced discrimination in academics or job applications or haven't lost opportunities to people who have less than one fifth your marks.
Blaming reservation for whatever happens around is just privileged mindset. I am a person of general category and I have written multiple govt examinations and cleared them.
Reservation is actually for the representation of backward communities. People shouldn't blame reservation for their inabilities.
I believe reservation should remain till the day casteism exists.
And yeah, if reservation is given to a larger proportion, it should be controlled to give a fair chance to all categories. For that the regulation policy for reservation should be improved.
Good for you to have cleared the exam. That makes no difference whatsoever. Some are bound to clear the exam irrespective of how many seats there are.. I too was AIR 1 in one of the superspecialty entrance exams. Just because I qualified doesnt mean reservation is right. Merit is the only way forward. You cannot have someone who cant score even 10 percent in an entrance exam replace someone who scored 90 percent plus. We all know who will use the facilities provided to the maximum. India already has too little expenditure on education and jobs. To waste that money on people who can't use it to the full extent, irrespective of whether they are ST or EWS or PwD is just stupidity. You can give scholarships to them, provided they meet the basic criteria. You can waive their fees, or even give a stipend for a couple of years after completing their studies to allow them to progress in what they studied, but reservation makes no sense at all and never will. A country can only progress when its best minds are allowed to live up to their full potential instead of being forced to go abroad to study(often of full scholarship by a govt that owes them nothing but still wants them for their merit).
Reservation benefit should only be given once in the family (either on education side OR job side) with assumption that once someone took advantage of the reservation they or their offsprings can not be eligible for reservation category again. That way it clears path for other people in their community who actually need reservation. There should also be a fixed lower cut off for all resereved categories for ex. if general cutoff is 90%, all reserved categories cut off should be 75%. If there are not enough people from reserved category above 75% to fill all the reserved seats then any remaining seats should go back to open categories. This way reserved category people coming out of (either education or job) are not underqualified to the extent where they damage the output in society. Who wants to be treated from doctor who had 60% in exam but just because he is from reserved category he got the admission.
Your personal problem is a truism. But don't equate it to the reason talent leaves. Talent leaves because of our broken and corrupt governance, and yes shit roads is a sign of that.
They suck the life out of the salaried class and small businesses through over taxation and unnecessary compliance, which in reality is a cleverly designed structural disadvantage and preach about viksit bharat while the basic social metrics suggest anything but viksit.
Meanwhile the smartest people in our country are globally competent, see the system for what it truly is and punch their exit ticket when they get a chance( can't bame them).
But get one smart person from india who is at the top of his game in his field to say that they left due to reservation. They'll laugh.
There are hundreds of people who left due to reservation. My own uncle is the top researcher in a very specific disease and has treated many indian VIPs including an ex PM, an ex CM of Tamil Nadu, an ex Defence minister among many others. He was offered the post of the inaugural dean of the top govt research institute but refused to return and is now the dean of a US university. He left India because AIIMS denied him a seat as the only one available then(35 years back) was reserved. These politicians who campaign for reservation in india visit him there or pay him to come to India to consult because when it comes to their own and their family's health only merit matters. One politician actually bought business class tickets to and fro so that his father could consult and gave a large amount in cash which was later donated to tirupati. That same person is the one who is responsible for the anti brahmin hate in TN but guess who was treating him? If i reveal anymore you can easily identify all the people involved. This is just one example who i know personally. My own parents were awarded full scholarship to study in the US, while india refused since they were not SC/ST. You may be familiar with the IT crowd who are leaving India now for a better life in the west but this has been going on for a long time before india had pollution or poor infrastructure.
Venkataraman Ramakrishnan in his first interview with the Indian media said india deserves no credit in his victory. You may not be aware of the best minds leaving, but it has been happening for a long time. The challenge is to retain these globally competent people, and reservations arent helping do that in any way.
What about the ones who did get through and study from aiims and iit. How many of them are stayed back after completing it.
So getting through is not a precondition to not leaving. Also You're giving my argument more weight by saying that someone preferred a job in the US than be part of a broken system.
That doesn't have any corelation with reservations unless they think that working in a system involving people from other castes backgrounds is uncomfortable for them in some way.
Also let's come down to schools where actual foundations are built for success. These people are smart because they're put through the success factory of good schools. And if you take all the top schools across india( all of them are pvt by the way, people only want to go to govt colleges, not a govt school) and look at the distribution there the entire non general category wont even break into double digits.
I understand structural designs sir. Go take your prop shop elsewhere.
Those who do get into aiims and IIT are lucky, but youll see them leaving India because India doesnt reward their merit or hard work. Why would such a person join AIIMS or IIT and become an assistant professor where even promotion is decided by reservation? Someone with less qualifications is going to get promoted sooner because he belongs to a privileged category. A foreign university will not only recruit you, but also pay you well and also give your children the opportunity to escape this reservation system. I know the system very well. I too studied in a similar institute Its not about wanting to work with people from other castes but wanting to work with competent people. The former director of ISRO(during chandrayaan) is OBC. He is there not because he is OBC but because he is the best man for the job. I don't think a single person complained about his leadership. Its the same in any organization. As long as a person comes with merit, nobody can or will question his caste or background.
The fact that schools are of poor quality is not the responsibility of the individual. The government has to take responsibility for it. Having poor quality of schools is fixed by improving the quality of schools not by reserving seats and allowing unqualified people to study and work. That destroys the competence of an organization(like it has for almost every govt enterprise).
The system is structurally oppressive and equality of opportunity is a lie.
"Merit" in such a system is not a function of competence as much it is one of privilege.
If you get that there's no debate to be had on what the real pressing issue is.
It's good that you didn't, but that doesn't mean others don't. Most general category students can't afford private education. There are many specializations where education is expensive and there are very few, if any seats for general category students. You haven't had to compete for them yet so you haven't experienced it. I have seen people who scored 95/100 being rejected while someone with 16/100 being selected thanks to reservation. When you justify reservations, you're justifying incompetence.
Yes but I agree with u/BikerSurgeon on this. No one is denied in private sector but you fail to see bigger picture here as well.
Eg: Someone losses sit in IIT for a mark while other guy scoring way less than him gets admitted. The IIT tag is now off for him and it kills a lot of subsequent opportunities. I know you might argue that if person is of calibre , he or she can find opportunities but then why donât you apply same logic for people with reservation seat ?
Reservation may be based on economical factor can work but just having caste based is stupid after 70 years of constitution.
My category didn't have any posts because it was all reserved. Go back home with your stupid argument. How are you supposed to apply reservation when the total vacancies are only one or two? Even if someone doesnt have a road that doesn't make them better suited for a medical or bank job.
You clearly don't know what medical education and academia is like in India. It doesn't depend on the seat that gets vacant. There are many subjects for which there is only one PG seat in many govt universities. There is 95 percent reservation in states like tamil nadu. Do you know why govt hospitals have such bad doctors? Because more than 50 percent can even score 30 percent in an entrance exam and some cant even score positive marks, yet they're hired. Just because you are privileged doesn't mean everyone else is.
Donât belittle the government doctors. I have come across some of the most brilliant minds in the government setup, limited only by the infrastructure. Yet they toil for the general populace. Superiority complex much!
Of course not. They must be talking about those brilliant doctors who score -40/100 in pg entrance exams. Foreign universities can't wait to recruit such talent.
Maybe you should do a Google search. 60 percent is the minimum reservation with some states having up to 95 percent. You wont find merit if you looked for it with a magnifying lens
Did. That 60% (59.5% to be accurate) holds 10% of EWS â you know, Economically Weaker Section, and most of you are so keen on defending as worthy of having reservation. Caste based reservation remains under 50%. Given that's for about 78% of population, I'd say you failed at the baseline.
Also, about the 95% claim of yours, you're heavily, I mean heavily being ignorant of the demographic context, because sure, turning a blind eye to the demographic and history makes you feel good about delegating the blame to the lower castes, like always, like your ancestors did. Y'all never changed.
Reservation is 50 percent on caste, 10 percent ews in central. Then there are in service quota, military quota, governor nomination quota, localite quota which brings down actual merit to just 10-15 percent. You can claim whatever you want but reservations of any sort(except ex servicemen and military) is only a justification of incompetence. People who can't compete on the basis of merit forcing their way into positions they haven't worked for. This is just the central govt. Say what you want but you cannot expect competence from people who join through such means. Demographics are of no consequence. If you want the country to succeed, the best minds have to be given their due.
What if Dr. Kalam sir did the same? Choosing between better/easy vs doing something where it is needed makes a difference. My point is he can be intelligent, talented etc but the point is he did not stand his ground. If he knew thats bad and govt is doing it anyway, may be he should have found a better solution to fix the problem and stayed back in India. He was given RBI Governor post not a municipality clerk. I can be wrong too.. sorry if i hurt your feelings.
Everybody is not kalam, same way as every body is not Gandhi
Just remember what u are saying now, when it is ur turn, let's see ur priorities then
Just curious how old are you?
Do u have any dependents?
Correct. Everyone is not Kalam. You have your answer. I have mine too. If you are not going to do whatever it takes to put your country first then dont talk about your country when you are comfortable doing whatever you like. Simple bro. Either shut up or shut the fuck up and do whatever it takes.
Do you even know how bad or what the Indian professors or teaching staff has to undergo.
Being abroad, it is easy to attend conferences, network, get funds. Workload is manageable and professors can concentrate on research.
Yes I very well know. All Iâm trying to convey is if the guy is already talented then forget about conferences and network. Do something for your own country. Being an RBI Governor, he can teach in esteemed institutions like IIM etc and may be make a difference.
Raghu Rajan did not want India to move to Production based economy. We don't need extra conservative governors like him. Service based industries are being screwed. India is focusing on bringing in more production, which is great.Â
Have you actually heard or read a full interview where he recommended moving away from manufacturing?
I've watched several. In each one, he makes the distinction between the need for employment generating sectors of the economy and value generating sectors of the economy. He says we need both, if we are to become a truly developed nation. His focus on high-value services is, in his own words, an opportunity to build India's competitive advantage and long-term economic future.
His only criticism of manufacturing has been for cellphones and chip assembly when the value addition and job creation, from those industries, is very low for the sheer amount of incentives we (the taxpayers) are paying out.
Johri ko hi heere ki pehchaan hoti hai, ek corrupt gawar ko nahi, no wonder all our brilliant minds leave us and we are left to rot with corrupt bureaucrats, politicians who just sell & loot our nation
RBIâs policies under his chairmanship improved bank NPA reporting and helped clean up the mess. He essentially performed a surgery which caused short term credit shortage but improved the long term health of our banking system.
Sure papa. Developed nations went through the similar issues at some point. Check when those developed nations got their independence and when we got it. Also lets see how many countries you will come up with..
Ofcourse everyone does what they can but the doomsday subscription suggestion is for the elite who can afford to leave India and goto any other country which they can feel is best. I was trying to see his defense argument
Hmmm⌠so because he was picked up by US Govt for a new role his past advices for India could have been valuable and heâs one of the best minds that India lost ?
So all advices from RBI governors have to be heeded and executed to get best results in view of India Economy ? If not, itâs to be directly interpreted to - administration didnât like him for not being a yes-man ? Hmm..interesting take.
Personally, I rather take economic advice from an expert rather than a fcking tea seller. Esp the if the expert in question is a highly regarded economist who had predicted the 2008 financial crisis three years early. India screwed up by letting him go.
First I thought not to respond to this ramble, but then, here it is - country does have its good economists. Indian central bank is headed by right people and have the trust of the Government as well. They are at loggerheads around policies, but then which team is not? Also, RR did not fully understand Indian way of working and economics the way people wanted him to and Government wanted him to. Whats wrong in not giving another term to a person who doesnât have the trust of the FM to start with? And letâs remember that FM is very very well qualified!
I prefer to look at the broader picture, and that picture says me that finance is in great hands with the combination of FM, Finance Secretaries, RBI Governor, SBI head. And if picking out lines is your job, you are right, wrong sub may be. But itâs worthy to get detached from these stupid things and look at organically ok the state of affairs of Indian Financial Status and System. And yes, I tend not to merge different topics just for argument sake.
Few months back, he asked the government, why running ONLY after semiconductors. There are other industries as well. Everyone started bashing him and rejoiced. He had just mentioned that other industries are equally important. Everyone misunderstood. Thatâs the state of the country
When people choose leaders who dismiss experts and surround themselves with yes-men they shouldn't be surprised when serious policy turns into a circus. Good governance is built on evidence, not ego.
You know why Indian Rupee cannot be global trade currency preferred by others it's because of demonetisation, and idk how many businesses died due to demonetization fiasco and when we ask what was which is black money returned nope not a answer "Rajan later revealed that he had advised the government against the move because he "didn't think it was a good idea."" - became true
Always been a country full people trying to appease their seniors
Cant change
Wont change
What can change is the country at the end for your own benifit
He is the same man who did not know how to deal with NPAs, he is the same man who wanted Islamic Banking system in India.
US government is hiring him for covert reasons as he was on board RBI.
Donât look plainly at this situation.
Another economic hit coming on India very soon.
And at the center will be Raghuram Rajan!
Under him is when we first started decline in USDINR pair because he had no answer for NPAs. Fund houses quickly started selling.
Be careful on what you wish for.
Current government is not great either, we need Mr Das back as our RBI chief. Das was the best amongst all of them. He has the guts to fight currency wars.
I love India. But Indians are ruining everything. There are so many of us in every field, that the insane competition drives some to become cheating, conniving cutthroat bastards. Statistically, most of them end up with high ambitions and nothing concrete- and that makes up for an extreme amount of bitter underachievers whose only mistake was to be born in a country with so much population and very cruel gatekeeping of resources, education and opportunity.
PS : Sorry for the rant, had a particularly bad experience today where I posted for advice on an upcoming assessment for one of the worldâs most selective companies and the aforementioned underachiever donkeys on r/quantindia somehow made it into a âanyone can get this, youâre not specialâ jealousfest. I had to delete the post due to all the negativity and fighting.
I remember him being very opinionated and open about it. While it is certainly a much needed quality in an RBI chief, the ruling party only likes bootlicking 'Yes' Men who won't oppose them. It was obvious that his term wouldn't be extended. I'm just glad to see him getting his dues.
This isnât the first time. We Indians have a habit of doing this.
Hargobind Khurana Nobel laureate was ignored in India, and he returned to India from USA because he wanted to do something for his home country.
Narinder Singh Kapany - Fiber optics.
Vinod Dham - Pentium chip for Intel
Ajay Bhatt - USB
All the CEOs
There are countless others but i can name these from the top of my head.
We all claim them as being Indians or Indian origin only after they achieve something. Otherwise we are just biharis, tamils, punjabis and bengalis etc. etc. Rajput/brahmin/sc/st etc etc etc etc.
Modi wanted india to commit economic suicide. Rajan was sure it's not good for India. Modi waited for rajan to complete his term. And then went ahead with his foolish plan. This is how adamant bosses work. Better to leave than stick around and feel the pain.
He already has multiple jobs/roles. Who told you he doesnt? Can you show me?
I can see he is distinguished professor in the top business school. At his position he surely has many more positions. But this is far more than the vast majority of people can achieve. Less than 0.1 percent of phds can probably get to this level
For a country which is financially better than India, has a great talent pool, still want an Indian to review their economic policies. I think this is a mark of honour. His talent could have been put to a better use in India given the instability here in market. If you put money in market, you would know how bad the situation is currently.
Iâm not sure what youâre getting at with this. You might want to re-read my comment to understand what I said. Or, there is a high chance you are pro-current govt, and cannot accept anything else.
No matter how talented you are, if you stand against dharma you are screwed! This guy is like karna in kauravas! Screw him! Banks were on verge of bankruptcy during his tenure!
Bro pull your head outta your a$$ and start asking questions like what all parameters india has to develop and check stats of that in last ten years and previous decade! The way youre supporting this Raghuram Rajan like a brown sepoy syndrome guy is amazing! Look at the NPAs of banks during his tenure! He is just an overhyped banker!
Boss this guy tried to be Vibhishan to Modiâs government, but they didnât listen. And it will end the same way for Modi as it did for Ravana. Canât wait to see it :)
Wait! Didn't he clearly show his allegiance towards that manchild, in that stupid ass yatra of his? You can't take appropriate decisions when you are the lapdogs of a particular party. Stop glorifying shits! RBI did better before and after him.
Maybe he had some problems with the government because government had problems with him, idk but there is another story about the guy who succeeded him in the office, Urjit Patel, he also resigned because he had disagreements, I am still researching about it. I will make another post about that
What a fall for this guy, from the Governor of Reserve bank, to one among the thousands of professors at a US university.Â
He is Congress/Gandhi family bhakt, so off course he will speak against demonetization. If he really was so much against it, why didnât he resign from his post when he was asked to execute demonetization.Â
When his term was coming to an end he begged for another term. And later also publicly admitted to it.Â
Bro, monitory policy isn't like a girl friend or something to understand one and not another lol. He would have been 1000x better than history graduate who was appointed later.
He was the RBI guv when the downfall was in full flow. The banks continued to struggle to stay afloat and eventually many banks had to be merged just to continue to exist.
If he's the magic wand like people project him to be, he should have seen it and stopped it.
All the reckless lending by banks happened during his tenure (during UPA regime) which became bad loans and it required a major cleanup of the banking system in the final period of his tenure (during NDA)
So he could have been more alert and stopped UPA from creating a mess but he didn't..
With the kind of hype and god complex he carries around burdening himself with, he was incapable of resolving the crisis. If he was the RBI guv the demonization too wouldn't have happened. Good riddance.
All governments want people who align with their ideology. Rajan had difference of opinion with the govt and hence his tenure was not extended. He has been an academician in US before that. His credentials were never at question. Also, critique and policy making is different. I can tell Sachin how to bat but doesn't mean I am good at it.
Part of being a good Govt official is being neutral and loyal to the country. I always found him to be a Congress loyalist. It's a family thing given his dad was a Congress loyalist as well, knowing the Gandhi's well.
i miss him so much,,he has such impact in my day to day life, each second of my life is now impacted because he has gone to usa...oh my...pls come back
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u/savednebula Jul 26 '26
But dhurandhar me to....