India replaces central bank head Shaktikanta Das

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India’s government has appointed a new central bank governor, after a sharp decline in economic growth and accelerating inflation dented the outlook for the world’s most populous country.

Shaktikanta Das, the head of the Reserve Bank of India, has been replaced by revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra, who will start a three-year tenure this week, according to a government notification on Monday.

A data reading late last month showed the country’s GDP growth rate eased to 5.4 per cent in the three months to September — the slowest in two years. Before that, Indian media were reporting that Das was expected to secure an extension to his six-year term.

Das had been praised for his steady hand on the currency and on the regulation of India’s financial industry. But he faced public criticism from ministers as the RBI resisted cutting interest rates in the face of rising inflation, which breached the central bank’s six per cent upper target band in October.

This is a developing story