Former RBI deputy governor K C Chakrabarty passes away

MUMBAI: Former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank K C Chakrabarty passed away following a heart attack on Friday. He was 68. Chakrabarty, a commercial banker-turned-central banker, died at his home in suburban Chembur, banking industry sources said.

After his stint at state-run lenders like Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank and Punjab National Bank, the outspoken Chakrabarty had joined the RBI as a DG in 2009 and resigned in 2014, three months before his term ended.

Before banking, Chakrabarty had taught at the Banaras Hindu University before entering commercial banking.

At RBI, he handled a variety of departments including banking regulation and supervision as the DG.

Following reports of an "RBI official" putting question marks over policy efficacy in tackling inflation, he was stripped of many responsibilities by the then Governor D Subbarao, and was left with only the Rajbhasha Department.

Subsequently, his responsibilities were restored. At RBI, he had a reputation for sharp wit, humour and quick retorts.

He frequently critiqued his former commercial banking colleagues for blaming rise in dud loans as 'system-generated NPAs', insisted on financial inclusion targets and had a very public spat with former SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri over interest on cash reserve ratio (CRR).

After his resignation, he had shifted base to London, where he was posted earlier in his career while working for Bank of Baroda.

In 2018, his name cropped up as a suspect in two cases investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), including one related to the Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines. He was also prevented from flying out to London because of a lookout circular against him.