I’m looking forward to it: Jalan

“I am looking forward to what I can do for the people of the country in areas where I worked like economic policies and administration,” he said. Jalan’s tenure has seen India’s foreign exchange reserves soar — to over $85 billion — despite economic sanctions imposed by the US after the country conducted nuclear tests in 1998 and lingering risks of a war between India and Pakistan. Interest rates too have declined to three-decade lows, enabling consumers to access cheaper funds for homes and consumer goods. Jalan said economic policies were important and he will contribute by participating in the public debate. He said he required some ‘experience’ to assess the political scenario of the country.

Jalan’s nomination came a day after he presented the RBI’s annual report for 2002-03, which projected buoyancy in economy with the GDP growth expected to be significantly higher than 6 per cent pegged in the April slack season credit policy.

Jalan’s term as the RBI governor was scheduled to end in 2004. Earlier, Jalan worked as finance secretary of the government of India.

Another former central bank governor, Manmohan Singh, also became a member of the upper house of Parliament before becoming a Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao-led coalition government and launching India’s economic reforms in 1991.

Y. Venugopal Reddy, currently an executive director at the IMF, has been named to take over from Jalan when he leaves office in late September. Reddy had earlier served as deputy governor of the RBI.