Govt vs RBI: A look at past disputes between the central bank and the executive

The recent spat between Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government is not the first time the two have locked horns over the central bank's autonomy. RBI Governors in the past also have had public feuds with the government over a number of issues. (Image: Reuters)

Urjit Patel | Term: 2016-Present | Patel was reported to be considering resignation over disagreements with the government. The rift began after Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said the government does not respect RBI's independence. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused the central bank of failing to prevent bad loans.

Benegal Rama Rau | Term: 1949-1957 | He resigned after a public feud with TT Krishnamachari, the then Finance Minister. The trigger for Rau's resignation was an announcement by Krishnamachari on stamp duty on bills.

Yaga Venugopal Reddy | Term: 2003-2005 | Reddy worked with two finance ministers - NDA's Jaswant Singh and UPA's P Chidambaram. He had public disagreements or "creative tension" with Chidambaram over monetary policy.

Duvvuri Subbarao | Term: 2008-2013 | D Subbarao batted for the central bank's autonomy with both P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee during their terms as Finance Minister. In his book 'Who Moved My Interest Rate?: Leading the Reserve Bank of India Through Five Turbulent Years', Subbarao addresed his differences with the UPA government.

Raghuram Rajan | Term: 2013-2016 | Rajan disagreed with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on a number of issues. BJP MP Subramanian Swamy was a vocal critic of Rajan, even asking for Rajan's removal from the post before his tenure ended. The government did not give him an extension amid reports that it wasn't happy with Rajan's interest rate policy, and his public remarks on non-economic issues.