Arun Jaitley with Urjit Patel
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley defended the government over the issue of the resignation of former RBI Governor Urjit Patel and said that they never asked for his resignation.
Speaking at Agenda Aaj Tak, he said that the government does not need a single penny from RBI's capital reserves during the current fiscal.
Responding to criticism over surprise resignation of Patel as RBI Governor earlier this month, he said there were cordial discussions at the meeting of the RBI board over issues such as the appropriate size of reserves the central bank must hold.
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Urjit Patel had tendered his resignation on December 10 citing 'personal reasons'. His resignation also came against the backdrop of the increasing tensions between the Finance Ministry and the RBI. Reports suggest that Patel resigned due to his differences with the government over its handling of liquidity stress in certain sectors.
After Patel's resignation, the government appointed former bureaucrat Shaktikanta Das as the Governor of RBI.
