Former Reserve Bank of India Governor S Venkataramanan, who led the central bank during the crucial crisis years of 1990-91, passed away.
Obituary
Former Reserve Bank of India governor S Venkataramanan, who led the central bank during the crucial crisis years of 1990-91, died after a brief illness. He was 92 years old and is survived by his two daughters Girija and Sudha and their families. Even before Venkitaramanan took over as RBI Governor in 1990, India was reeling from the first Gulf War and a balance of payments disturbance due to the resulting oil import bill ($2 billion to $5.7 billion). As Finance Secretary, Venkataraman tried in vain to avert impending doom by introducing then-IMF chief Michel Camdessus to then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for approval of the IMF loan. But what is less realized is that due to frequent changes in the guard of the Central Government, the responsibility of raising funds again and again fell on the RBI. It is believed that Venkitaramanan, Japan's Foreign Minister in Tokyo, was brutally dismissed within 30 seconds when he went to ask for the money.
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