by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
As tensions between RBI-Govt. Ease,
Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia retires
Ahia was Modi's most loyal man in Finance Ministry
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Nov 17
In a sudden development, the government today announced that Finance & revenue Secretary Dr. Hasmukh Adhia will retire this month end.
The announcement was made by none other than the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley in his blog under whom he worked for nearly four years. While lauding Dr Adhia's role in
various policy initiatives inluding fight against black money and the GST, Jaitley revealed that the government wanted to use his capability and experience in some alternate capacity. “But he informed me earlier this year that he would not work for a single day after the 30th of November 2018.” Jaitley also disclosed that he would devote his time to his “favourite passion and of course his son” and wished him “all the best for his post retirement life. Thank You Dr. Adhia.”
Sources say that Adhia was peeved with the government for not rewarding him with the post of Cabinet Secretary in June this year when the post fell vacant when he was senior most and particularly after his immense contribution in running the affairs at the North Block.
It may be mentioned that Dr Adhia is personally very close to the PM as he had worked with him in Gujrat when Modi was Chief Minister.
It was also speculated that Adhia may take over as RBI governor in the event of Dr Urjit Patel resigning after a face-off with the government.
With tension between the Government and the Reserve Bank of India easing before the crucial meeting of the full RBI board on Monday in Mumbai, the prospects of Urjit Patel resigning also receded. It transpires that the Finance Ministry and Reserve Bank of India are working hard to find a middle ground. Arun Jaitley will travel to Mumbai tomorrow to participate in a function and may connect with those handling the issue. There are already signs of softening of stance on the part of both the players.
The vexed issues of fixing norms for the surplus reserves, (Read Rs 3.50 lakh crores extra fund government is eyeing lying with the RBI), easing of Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) provisions for public sector banks, liquidity support for the NBFCs and improved lending and restructuring of loans to MSMEs.
There is no move now to invoke Section 7 of the RBI Act forcing the bank to give up or RBI governor to quit. Urjit Patel had earlier this month also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to discuss some of these contentious issues.
Sources in the government say that with Adhia going, the posts of Finance & Revenue Secretaries will be split again and two separate officers will chip in.
ends
