Rajan Says He Would Return to Help Tackle Corona Crisis If Asked

Rajan had recently suggested that the government call on people with proven expertise to help manage the crisis.

Would former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan consider coming back to India to help tackle the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis, if he were asked to do so?

In an interview with Prannoy Roy on NDTV, Rajan said that the answer to that question was a pretty straightforward yes.

Rajan is currently teaching in the US, according to the NDTV report. Here is how the exchange went:

Prannoy Roy: If you were asked to come back, would you accept coming back to India to help out, and let bygones be bygones?

Raghuram Rajan: Look, this is a time of emergency. First, there are no bygones to be bygones. I’m an Indian citizen and I’m very, very closely engaged in seeing what’s happening to India and worry about it every day. So, I mean, any Indian citizen when called upon will do what is necessary in a time of need. So, I don’t think that’s an issue.

When Roy pressed Rajan further on this point, on whether he would return to India and join the efforts to tackle the crisis if asked, the former RBI governor replied, “I think the answer is pretty straightforward – yes.”

On a LinkedIn blog post titled ‘Perhaps India’s Greatest Challenge in Recent Times’. Rajan had recently suggested that the government call on people with proven expertise and capabilities to help manage its response to the coronavirus crisis.

“There is much to do. The government should call on people with proven expertise and capabilities, of whom there are so many in India, to help it manage its response. It may even want to reach across the political aisle to draw in members of the opposition who have had experience in previous times of great stress like the global financial crisis.”

Raghuram Rajan

In the interview to NDTV, Rajan also stated that the world is "almost surely in a deep recession."

“Hopefully, we will see a rebound next year, and it depends on measures we take to prevent a recurrence (of the pandemic).”

Raghuram Rajan