Raghuram Rajan gets more candid during his book launch in Mumbai

The former Reserve Bank of India chief was a "rockstar" Governor known to speak his mind while at the central bank as well as now, a year later.

October 09, 2017 / 12:20 IST

2. Raghuram Govind Rajan - Former Reserve Bank of India governor and currently a Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Rajan, who graduated from IIT-Delhi in 1985 with a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, also won the Director’s Gold Medal there. (Image: PTI)

You know Raghuram Govind Rajan does not need any introduction when his third book launch promotion gathers a jam-packed attendance from people of all fields.

The jamboree was attended by nearly 300-400 people at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly the Prince of Wales museum ) for the promotion of Rajan's book, I Do What I Do, in Mumbai on Friday.

The August gathering saw the presence of some of his family members including his daughter and brother Mukund Rajan. His select former colleagues from Reserve Bank, Adi Godrej chairman of Godrej group, Aditya Birla group's chief economist Ajit Ranade, bankers including Hitendra Dave, managing director, head of global banking & markets, India, HSBC, Meera Sanyal, former CEO and Chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland, India, columnist Shobhaa De and socialite Dolly Thakore among others also attended.

The former Reserve Bank of India chief was a "rockstar" Governor known to speak his mind while at the central bank as well as now, a year later.

Hijacking his successor Urjit Patel's one year stint at RBI, Rajan launched his book "I Do What I Do", a compilation of his speeches during his three-year term as the Governor and a commentary on reform, rhetoric and resolve.

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After two launches in Chennai followed by Delhi, the journalists coterie wondered if there was anything left for him to create more headlines. But as history has suggested, he never disappoints the press with his gift of the gab.

In the two cities that he spoke this week, he didn't mince his words and let loose his thoughts -- right from demonetisation to the resolution of NPA mess, from GDP growth to populist nationalism and from bank mergers to free speech and intolerance.

This time he lambasted the execution of the Banks Board Bureau (BBB), set up last year, which was meant to be distinct from the government but has "became just a cog in the wheel that went up".