India at exciting but challenging time: RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya

NEW YORK: India, one of the world's fastest growing economies, is at an "exciting but challenging time" and has massive potential to become an "economic powerhouse", RBI's newly-appointed Deputy Governor and noted economist Viral Acharya has said.

Acharya, 42, said he was "thrilled" to have the opportunity to help advance India's economy by contributing to policies at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that can ensure the country's stable growth.

Appointed for a term of three years, Acharya would take charge on January 20. He would look after the Monetary Policy and Research cluster and would fill the post that became vacant after Urjit Patel was made RBI Governor.

The CV Starr Professor of Economics at the Department of Finance of New York University's Stern School of Business, Acharya said India is at an "exciting but challenging time" and as one of the world's fastest growing economies, it has the massive potential to become an "economic powerhouse".

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help advance India's economy by contributing to policies at the RBI that can ensure the country's stable growth and are at the same time globally responsible," Acharya said in a statement issued by NYU Stern here yesterday.

Acharya, also the Director of the NSE-NYU Stern Initiative on the Study of Indian Capital Markets, has received numerous awards and recognition for his research including the recent Alexandre Lamfalussy Senior Research Fellowship of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) for 2017 and the inaugural Banque de France and Toulouse School of Economics Junior Prize in Monetary Economics and Finance in 2011.

Acharya's primary research interests are in the regulation of banks and financial institutions, measurement of systemic risk and understanding the nexus between sovereign and financial sector credit risks.

Peter Henry, Dean of NYU Stern which is one of the US' premier management education schools and research centers, described Acharya as an "outstanding and prolific scholar", who will "undoubtedly bring breadth, depth and real-world insight to this prestigious policy post in such an important emerging market in the global economy".

In his new role, Acharya will be in charge of monetary policy, foreign exchange and market operations, as well as research and statistics.

Like former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, Acharya comes from an academic background and has also co-authored at least three papers with him.

Acharya has often praised Rajan for his work and once said "Raghu has been a great source of inspiration for me".