Duvvuri Subbarao’s stint as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India has left a legacy of not only handling the global crisis, high inflation, currency depreciation but also standing up to the mounting pressure from the Government on monetary policy.

Known to be firm on his decisions, Subbarao said in his last speech that it was the RBI’s responsibility to make that extra effort to listen to the silent ‘voice of the poor’.

Here’s what some top bankers had to say on Subbarao, who demits office on September 4:

H. R. Khan, RBI Deputy Governor : I think in what I have seen so far in my experience, he has been the only central bank Governor of any country who has travelled to villages and taken us also along. Also, he has tried to demystify the RBI.

Pratip Chaudhuri, Chairman, State Bank of India : During his term, Subbarao has reduced the CRR and SLR by four percentage points. This to my mind, in a tenure of four years, is very significant. To some extent, the buoyancy in economic growth which we saw in those two years (2009 and 2010) can be attributed to that. I think one of the biggest reforms needed in the banking system is the reduction of the pre-emption on CRR and SLR.

Aditya Puri, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, HDFC Bank: It would be presumptuous for me to make a comment on the RBI Governor. But that said, I have the highest respect for him, he has been through a difficult time as the Governor. In hindsight, it is very easy to judge anybody. He is a well-respected gentleman who is going into retirement, I wish him the best and I do believe he did a great job.

Shikha Sharma, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Axis Bank : I think the RBI Governor’s term has been in one of the most difficult environments, both globally and domestically. And if you look at the world and India today, there are so many changes that you have to be on your feet. I can’t imagine anyone else doing a better job of it.

Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC : It was the most difficult time for any Governor, including the 1991 crisis. And I think he has done a remarkable job, kept his head high and governed and run the RBI to the best of his ability and we cannot criticise him. Things have been bad and it was the worst period in our history. As the Governor said we need to have undertaken structural reforms at the right time when the economy was booming and growing at 9 per cent and we cannot do that when you are in a bad state, both internally and globally. We must analyse this is and work on it.

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