Ready to help India in dealing with Covid stress if asked, says Raghuram Rajan

A straightforward yes is what former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan told a private news channel on being asked if he would return to India if his expertise was required for a strategy against the pandemic. Rajan, 57, who was the RBI governor for three years until September 2016, is currently working as a professor at the prestigious University of Chicago. In an interview to NDTV, Rajan said he would readily agree if he's asked to provide assistance in dealing with the economic stress caused by Covid-19, which has claimed over 200 lives in the country so far. Rajan is already part of a 11-member external advisory group set up by the IMF to provide perspectives from around the globe on key developments and policy issues, including responses to the exceptional challenges the world faces now from the rogue virus. So far compared to other emerging markets our exchange rate has stayed quite stable, presumably from some support of the RBI. Rajan has suggested to the Indian government to call people with proven expertise and capabilities, including from opposition parties, to deal with perhaps the greatest emergency being faced by the country since Independence following the outbreak. 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. "If, however, the government insists on driving everything from the Prime Minister's Office, with the same overworked people, it will do too little, too late," Rajan said in a blog titled "Perhaps India's Greatest Challenge in Recent Times". He, however, asserted that with the right resolve and priorities, and drawing on India's many sources of strength, it can beat this virus back, and even set the stage for a much more hopeful tomorrow. Rajan had recently written about steps needed to put India's economy back on track after the lockdown is lifted.