Raghuram Rajan a 'great' central bank governor: World Bank President Jim Yong Kim

NEW DELHI: Describing Raghuram Rajan as a "great" central bank governor, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim today said he has been told by the Indian leadership that Reserve Bank will continue to have an independent head.

"What I heard from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of his team is that there is not going to be much change. They will continue to have an independent central bank governor, and the policies that have lead to good outcomes will continue," Kim said in an interview to a private TV news channel.

The World Bank President described Reserve Bank chief as a "great" central bank governor, saying he tremendously respected Rajan as an academic.

Kim added that Rajan, Prime Minister and the government have been communicating very effectively.

To a question whether he trusts India's GDP numbers Kim said: "This (methodology of calculation of GDP numbers) is not an exact science, there is no Physics in this, it is really taking many different pieces of data and then making a best guess."

"...It (methodology) is taking many indicators and then in a consistent way doing best to make an estimate. Because we have been consistent over time, we feel very comfortable with these number (India's GDP numbers)."

Indian economy grew at 7.9 per cent in fourth quarter of 2015-16, taking the overall GDP growth to a five-year high of 7.6 per cent in the fiscal.

Citing example of China, the World Bank President said: "I would say this is not new, there are many people who question China's growth numbers, there are many people who question everybody's growth numbers."

Kim also said that there can be questions about methodology of GDP calculation, and the World Bank invites these questions about methodology.