Viral V Acharya—RBI's new Deputy Governor: All you need to know

New Delhi: Viral V Acharya, a New York University economics professor was today announced as Reserve Bank of India's new Deputy Governor by the Government. Interestingly, Viral once called himself 'poor man's Raghuram Rajan'.

Key point you must know about him:

1. Passed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, Viral has been appointed to the post for three years. He will fill the post that fell vacant after Urjit Patel was made RBI Governor to succeed Rajan with effect from September 4, 2016.

2. Viral happens to be an alumnus of IIT, Mumbai, with a degree of Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering in 1995 and PhD in Finance from NYU-Stern in 2001.

3. He studied at the London Business School (2001-08) and served as the Academic Director of the Coller Institute of Private Equity at LBS (2007-09) and a Senior Houblon-Normal Research Fellow at the Bank of England (Summer 2008).

4. Incidentally, Viral and former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan have more than one thing on common. The newly appointed Viral also comes from an academic background like Rajan and has also co-authored in the past at least three papers with the former RBI governor.

5. "Raghu has been a great source of inspiration for me", Viral was once quoted as saying according to PTI. The similarities don't stop here, just like Rajan, Viral has also been a strong votary of the independence of central banks and favoured them being "democratically accountable, yet be operationally independent from political influence".

6. He is known for his research in theoretical and empirical analysis of systemic risks of the financial sector, its regulation and genesis in government-induced distortions, according to the profile on the NYU website.

7. Viral has been a member of SEBI's International Advisory Board and has also served as Director, NSE-NYU Stern Initiative on the Study of Indian Capital Markets.

(With PTI inputs)