RBI's officers association has poured water on the central bank's plans to hire a chief financial officer (CFO), the government revealed today. In may this year, RBI had advertised for the position of a CFO in the rank of an executive director. While the government did not elaborate on reasons behind reservations of the employee union, it is learnt that the union was not happy with it because it thought of the move as an invasion on RBI's autonomy.
"The government is trying to override central bank and our union will not take it. It hampers the operational independence of the RBI. We will not allow any efforts to induct outsiders in RBI's operations. Coming of a CFO will mean that gradually government will get a say in RBI's internal matters", says Sudipta Saha Ray, All India Reserve Bank Employees Association's Kolkata unit secretary.
The association had also questioned the reason behind hiring a CFO for RBI as it was not statutorily mandated.Â
"The RBI Officers’ Association expressed their reservations on the appointment of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) on various grounds including rank of CFO, need of CFO, lateral recruitment etc," says government in a response in the Rajya Sabha.
The body also felt that the recent experiments with lateral hires in RBI did not meet with much of a success. Earlier, Raghuram Rajan had also planned to hire a chief operating officer with the rank of a deputy governor, but was met with opposition and the plan was finally shelved.
In January this year, the union had expressed its reservations on government appointing a finance ministry official to co-ordinate RBI cash operations. The group had shot off a letter to Urjit Patel asking him to uphold RBI's autonomy and that government's move was absolutely unacceptable and deplorable.
