Vishwanathan decides to step down as RBI deputy guv by Mar 31

Mumbai: RBI Deputy Governor N S Vishwanathan has decided to step down by March 31 due to ill health, three months before the end of his extended one-year tenure.

While the Reserve Bank has accepted his request to be relieved by March 31, the same has to be accepted by the Cabinet as well, which is likely to happen any day given his health condition, a person in the know of the development said.

His one-year extension was to end on July 3.

RBI spokesperson Yogesh Dayal refused to confirm or deny the development.

Sources said, despite ill health, the senior most deputy governor at the RBI was planning to leave by end-April, but the deteriorating health did not allow him. So he has asked for an early retirement.

The 62-year-old has been in-charge of the key supervisory and regulatory functions at the Mint Road and it was this powerful position that led the government to offer him an extension given the mess in the banking system.

The RBI's supervisory and regulatory powers came under criticism after IL&FS, one of the largest NBFCs went belly up in September 2018. And then came the scam at the city-based Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank in September 2019. Both incidents dented the image of RBI's regulatory prowess.

After being appointed as the deputy governor on June 28, 2016 for a three-year-term, Vishwanathan has served under three governors — Raghuram Rajan, Urjit Patel and Shantikanta Das.