India Names Former Public Servant as Central Bank Governor

Shaktikanta Das succeeds Urjit Patel, who quit Monday after tensions with Modi administration as election looms

Corinne Abrams,

Rajesh Roy and

Debiprasad Nayak

Updated Dec. 11, 2018 2:19 p.m. ET

NEW DELHI—India named a former civil servant as the governor of its central bank a day after his predecessor resigned following months of tensions with a government that has pushed to loosen restrictions on bank lending with a general election looming next year.

The government chose the bureaucrat, Shaktikanta Das, as the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India after Urjit Patel resigned for what he said were personal reasons.

Prime...