Rajan enters RBI with a big bang of financial sector reforms - on his first day as new chief of Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan unveiled plans to...

Rajan enters RBI with a big bang of financial sector reforms - on his first day as new chief of Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan unveiled plans to liberalise and spread financial services across the nation of 1.3bn people. The measures announced by Mr Rajan - who will make his first substantial statement on monetary policy in two weeks - are aimed at freeing India's banks from the web of state controls that have stifled the sector since independence in 1947. One aim is to bring financial services to the poor for the ultimate benefit of the economy as a whole. The Indian public would benefit from more competition between banks, and banks would benefit from more freedom in decision-making, he said. Rajan won a reputation as an economist for having warned of the financial risks that precipitated the global crisis in 2008. (VIEW LINK)