Nachiket Mor’s 2nd tenure on RBI board cut short

MUMBAI: Nachiket Mor's second tenure on the central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been cut short by the government abruptly earlier this month, with more than half the term to be completed, two people familiar with the information said.

Mor had been re-nominated by the central government as a director of the RBI central board of directors in August 2017 for a second term. He was also appointed as a member of the Eastern Area local board of the RBI.

"He had completed just a year of his four year term. He was brought for a second stint within four months of his stint because of his expertise in banking areas. But he used to speak up was not exactly the darling bureaucrats which could be a reason why his term was cut short "said on of the persons with direct knowledge of the matter.

However, Mor continues to be on the RBI's eastern board. His removal from the board was communicated on September 20 and was so sudden that the central bank's website has not yet removed his name from among the directors.Mor said he did not want to comment when reached by ET.

A former executive director at ICICI Bank was first appointed on RBI board in May 2013. He is currently country director of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a non profit organisation which works in areas of health, sanitation, financial services and agricultural development.

Interestingly, in April, RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding the removal of Nachiket Mor from the RBI board on grounds of conflict of interest because of his employment with The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

The BMGF receives foreign funds and the RBI is regulator of the fund, the SJM co-convener Ashwani Mahajan said in his letter to Modi citing conflict of interest. He further alleged that the activities of BMGF are suspicious.

Mor is full-time India representative of BMGF, which is under strict vigil of the Ministry of Home Affairs and is actively getting funds from foreign sources, Mahajan said in his letter. However it could not be clarrified whether this was the reason for his outster.

"If this was the reason then they would not have allowed him to continue even on the eastern board " the person cited above said. An RBI spokesperson did not reply to an email seeking comment.

Interestingly in August the government had appointed SJM associate S Gurumurthy, on the board of the RBI. Mor is a former executive director of ICICI Bank and also headed the RBI committee on financial inclusion. He is considered an expert in rural financing and headed that business at ICICI some time ago.