Subbarao

If tax concessions announced by the government are treated as 'presumptive loss' by federal auditor Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), it would diminish democracy and not enhance it, opined former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao. Subbarao, who held various positions including the Union finance secretary, wrote in his new book titled 'Just A Mercenary?: Notes from My Life and Career' about his involvement in the decision-making on the pricing of the 2G spectrum, an issue that embroiled the UPA-2 government amid charges of mammoth corruption. "If a democratically elected government decides to forego revenue in order to serve the larger public good of deepening telecom penetration, is it open to the CAG to substitute his own judgement for the government's and call it a 'presumptive loss'?" he asked. Subbarao was responding to a question on the 2G scam case and the CAG's investigation of the presumptive loss to the government during the UPA-2 period. "If the CAG is allowed t

Former RBI governor D Subbarao on Thursday said there was not 'sufficient emphasis' on jobs in the Budget for 2023-24 and it failed to grapple with the unemployment problem head on, except to believe that growth itself will generate jobs. Subbarao noted that the unemployment problem was quite bad even before the Covid and it has become alarming as a result of the pandemic. "I was disappointed that there was not sufficient emphasis on jobs (in the Budget for 2023-24) ...mere growth will not do; we need job intensive growth," he told PTI in an interview. The former RBI governor was asked what was his biggest disappointment with the Budget. According to Subbarao, roughly a million people join the labour force every month and India is not able to create even half as many jobs. "As a result, the unemployment problem is not just growing but is becoming a crisis," he pointed out. While noting that there is no single or simple solution to problem as big and complex as unemployment, Subba

TMS, Ep 15: Business impact of Facebook outage, Subbarao on economy, & IPOs

How deep is Indian businesses' dependence on Facebook and WhatsApp? What does RBI ex-governor Subbarao think of $5-trn economy goal? What are markets expecting from the RBI policy? All answers here

"I was plunged into crisis management even before I could settle into the job," Subbarao said here at the launch of his book Who Moved My Interest Rates?.

Ramesh also completely opposed the proposed merger of associates into the SBI

Using monetary policy tools to fight Rupee slide was toughest decision

The former RBI governor has chosen to be frank about his run-ins with finance ministers and comes when governor's term is about to end in the midst of controversy

He said after Rajan came to RBI as an OSD, they both agreed on steps like raising forex through NRI deposits

In his book, former governor says Chidambaram, Pranab were piqued by his tight rate policy; refused extension to two deputies

RBI often wrong-footed due to questionable data, says former governor

According to Subbarao, the pressure on the currency was inevitable and blaming the global developments could be an easy way out