London: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das received the ‘Governor of the Year’ award at the Central Banking Awards 2023 in London. The organisers of the awards said that Shaktikanta Das “cemented critical reforms, overseen world-leading payments innovation, and steered India through difficult times with a steady hand and well-crafted turn of phrase”.
Wishes poured in from all quarters after news of the award emerged on Wednesday.
The statement added that Das’ tenure which began in 2018, “has been marked by a series of grave challenges, starting with the collapse of a major non-bank firm, moving through the first and second waves of the Covid-19, and then, in 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its inflationary impact”.
They also spoke of “new concerns” about the risk of exposures and potential contagion risks linked to the public sector bank loans to companies such as Adani Group whose shares plunged following the Hindenburg report.
In the statement, the Central Banking Awards 2023 organisers spoke about the IL&FS collapse that led to a liquidity crunch and shortcomings in the business models of several banks. “A handful of other firms collapsed in the subsequent months, including Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank, which had lent heavily to an infrastructure finance firm that went bust,” they said.
They credited Das for shepherding the bankruptcy code back into legality, pushing banks to raise more capital, restructuring the RBI to create a standalone supervision department, and establishing a College of Supervisors to train the next generation.
The organisers also credited Das for “appearing as a voice of calm amid the fear” during the Covid-19 pandemic and steering the central bank deftly between intense political pressure and economic disaster.
Governor Shaktikanta Das has been credited for overseeing the project around UPI and pushing the country to the forefront of the pack of central bank digital currency (CBDC). The statement also mentioned Das’ opposition to crypto assets in India.
They quoted former RBI Governor YV Reddy who said, “In my view, he has done an outstanding job in view of the extraordinary challenges he faced during the period and also the manner in which he had to negotiate the relationship with the government.”
