Viral Acharya, the youngest deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Monday confirmed to CNBC-TV18 that he resigned from the position, citing 'unavoidable personal reasons', six months before his three-year term ended. Acharya joined the central bank on January 23, 2017.

The 45-year old Acharya, before joining the RBI, came with an ample amount of experience in the education sector.

He was the CV Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern), just before taking up the RBI position. Before NYU-Stern, he was at London Business School for seven years and has also been the Academic Director of the Coller Institute of Private Equity at LBS.

Acharya also completed his doctorate course on banks and financial institutions from the same college.

He has co-authored financial and banking papers and reports with former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan. He has also called himself the 'poor man's Raghuram Rajan'.

Acharya completed his graduation in Computer Technology from Indian Institute of Technology - Mumbai in 1995.

Apart from experience on the educational side, this was not the first time Acharya was being offered a job as one among the financial regulators.

Acharya has been the advisory scientific committee of European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), a part of the economic advisory committee of the Financial Industry Regulation Authority (FINRA), advisory committee of Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) of India and also been a part of the International Advisory Board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Last year, Acharya presented a controversial speech against the government where he batted for the central bank's autonomy. He urged in his speech that the RBI needs to be independent to improve the macroeconomic stability and the policies need to be rule-based.

The speech created a rift between the central bank and the government, which is also speculated to a reason for former RBI governor Urjit Patel to put in his papers. After Patel's resignation, Das was appointed as the governor. On his appointment, investors worry the government will use the central bank to do its short-term bidding to boost the economy for political reasons, with a general election due by May, without fully considering the long-term consequences for inflation and financial stability.

First Published:Jun 24, 2019 10:44 AM IST