Subbarao gets 2-yr extension as RBI Governor

New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI) Ending months of suspense, Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday gave a two-year
extension to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao
beyond September.
"The Prime Minister approved the extension to D Subbarao,
Governor of RBI, for two years," a PMO spokesman said.
The extension will be with effect from September 5 this
year till September 4, 2013.
The 61-year-old IAS officer and veteran Finance Ministry
official was appointed the 22nd Governor of the central bank
in September, 2008, for a three-year term.
Interestingly, the announcement of his extension comes
just two days before his birthday.
The continuity of Subbarao at the helm of the RBI assumes
significance as it comes at a time when the government and the
central bank are gearing up to meet the challenge posed by
downgrade of the US sovereign rating and the economic crisis
in several eurozone nations.
Subbarao, who has headed RBI since 2008, steered the
country through the economic crisis. He is credited with
taking a tough monetary stance to check inflation.
Under his governorship, the RBI recently doubled the
frequency of monetary policy reviews from every quarter to
eight times a year with a view to decrease the need for
off-cycle rate moves.
Subbarao had earlier served under Manmohan Singh in the
Finance Ministry as a senior official in the early 1990s, when
the latter was Finance Minister.
Prior to this appointment, he was the country's Finance
Secretary.