Duvvuri Subbarao, the governor of Reserve Bank of India, was quick to decide his priorities when he assumed charge in September 2008, a few days before Lehman Brothers' collapsed.
At a time when the country was struggling to come to terms with the aftershocks of the global financial meltdown, the career bureaucrat consciously rested one of the weapons from the central bank's limited stock of ammunition that his immediate illustrious predecessor, Yaga Venugopal Reddy, used frequently.
Reddy, who was the governor of the central bank when the country was witnessing a phase of unprecedented high growth, had a penchant for surprising the market to tame the exuberance of investors of both financial and real assets.
His successor, however, had to adopt a different strategy as he was responding to a complete different situation.
Following the global financial meltdown, Subbarao, started reducing interest rates and cash reserve ratio rapidly, and also cut uncertainty in tandem, by explicitly giving forward looking statements, which helped cool the nerves of investors and stakeholders.”In times of uncertainty, let's not add to it,” is the line adopted by the monetary policy authority of the country since late 2008.
The finance ministry, which appoints the RBI governor and other important posts, however, thinks otherwise.
When the monetary policy stance is at a crucial juncture as everyone is waiting for the curve to change direction -- one may have a difference of opinion about the timing but not the debate -- no one knows if the deputy governor in charge of monetary policy is certain about his job.
Subir Gokarn, the high profile economist who was handpicked by RBI governor in 2009 to steer the country's monetary policy in an uncertain times, completed his three-year term on November 23.
There were two certain options before the government. One, extending his tenure as he is eligible for extension, Two, terminating his service and appoint a new person.
But the ministry choose the middle path. Neither did it terminate Gokarn's contract nor gave him an extension. The government decided for an interim extension, till December 31, just to add more speculation to one of the most crucial appointments of financial market regulation.
Because Gokarn's re-appointment is not ruled out, technically, say the bureaucrats of Raisina Hill, where the finance ministry is housed, he can appear for the interview which will be conducted by the recently appointed search panel headed by Subbarao.
Subbarao did the best he could do to avoid uncertainty regarding this crucial appointment as he strongly recommended Gokarn's extension around four months before November 23.
This is neither the first time nor the last time that due to indecision of the government uncertainties over key appointments linger.
The post of deputy governor in charge of monetary policy remained vacant for several months when Rakesh Mohan, Gokarn’s predecessor, quit RBI in mid-2009 to pursue academic interest. RBI got the replacement in V Leeladhar, another deputy governor of RBI, who retired in November 2008, over six months after his retirement.
There was so much uncertainty about the current deputy governor Anand Sinha's appointment that Sinha once admitted that he was unable to do retirement planning. Deputy governors can serve RBI till the age of 62, as compared to 60 for all other central bank employees.
Vacancy of top jobs at public sector banks is a routine affair. At present, two large banks -- Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda -- are functioning without a chairman. Life Insurance Corporation of India -- the largest insurer of the country -- was run by an interim chairman for nearly one year. And the top post at UTI Asset Management -- where the appointment needs finance ministry's seal -- is vacant for more than a year.
The only certainty is the uncertainty so far as government appointments are concerned.