Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan recently revealed that his salary as the governor was Rs 4 lakh per year and admitted that he was unaware about how much the present man at RBI's helm earned.
Speaking on Raj Shamani's "Figuring Out" podcast, Rajan said that the biggest perk of being the governor was he got to live in a big house that was close to Dhirubhai Ambani's residence.
"I don’t know what the current salary is but in my time it used to be Rs 4 lakh a year. The biggest perk is the house. You get a really big house, a few blocks away from Dhirubhai Ambani’s house in Mumbai on Malabar Hill," Rajan said.
The 60-year-old, who served as the governor between 2013-2016, further revealed that his salary was at par with the Cabinet Secretary and added that while he was eligible for medical facilities, he did not get a pension.
"I think it is on par with the Cabinet Secretary. It’s what government officials get. You don’t get other perks that government officials get, you don’t get a pension. But you get I think medical facilities. I don’t get a pension," Rajan added.
Elaborating on why RBI governors were not eligible for a pension, Rajan said that the officials were civil servants and received the pension amount from their civil service.
"The reason why most RBI governors don’t get pension is because they were civil servants. So they already got a pension from their civil service. But there was one who wasn’t a civil servant…I won’t name him…but I thought it was appropriate for the RBI in that case because of his many years of service to the RBI and to the government that he should get a pension," he said.
Rajan's new book, titled "Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future" co-authored with Rohit Lamba released on December 7.
Also read: Raghuram Rajan: 'People living in Gurgaon and Noida operating in first-world economy'
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