Rajan dubbed ‘Central Bank Governor of the Year’ by Euromoney

Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan has been conferred with Euromoney's Central Bank Governor of the Year Award 2014 in recognition of his ''tough monetary medicine'' and battle against ''vested interests''.

Euromoney, a UK-based financial publication, said in its citation, ''Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan's tough monetary medicine combated the storm ravaging the deficit-ridden economy in the recent emerging market crisis.

''Now, he is battling vested interests to arouse a sleepy financial system for over one billion people,'' according to a notification on the RBI website quoting Euromoney on the award, given on 10 October.

Rajan was in Washington for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group's fall meet, held between 10 and 12 October.

''As he confronted capital outflows, the rupee at record lows, and overblown but palpable fears that India was marching towards an Asia-crisis style abyss, Rajan duly administered tough monetary medicine to ailing bond and currency markets,'' Euromoney said.

''Remarkably, the internationally-renowned economist, who earned acclaim for his warnings in 2005 of an upcoming global crisis of sorts, has for the past year, been true to his word,'' it added.

Rajan took over as RBI governor on 4 September 2013, at a time when the rupee was at an all-time record low against the dollar. To bring more dollars into the country and stem further rupee depreciation, Rajan relaxed norms on overseas dollar deposits, bringing more than $30 billion into the country, not only stabilizing the currency but also boosting the country's reserves.

Rajan has made lowering consumer price-based inflation the prime monetary policy objective and sent clear signals that the central bank would not ease rates till inflation is reined in firmly.

The central bank now aims to bring down consumer price inflation to 6 per cent by January 2016.