RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan dismisses talk of top IMF role

Raghuram Rajan, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) governor, has brushed off talk that he could be a candidate for the top job at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when Christine Lagarde's term ends next year, according to a newspaper interview.

Speculation on Rajan's ambitions, gaining strength as the end of his term approaches in 2016, increased after an analyst's report last week pointed to the government's push for greater representation in the top ranks of the IMF, and to Rajan as a candidate to be the first chief from a developing country.

Rajan, who has run RBI since 2013, was chief economist at the IMF between 2003 and 2006.

"Lagarde is doing a fine job (in) Washington and that job is not open. She might go for a second term," Rajan told the Business Standard newspaper.

"Earlier, some people wanted me to pack off to the BRICS Bank. They seem to find a new job for me every few months ... I am not looking for any new opportunities for when my term here comes to an end", he said.

Brokerage Ambit, in its report last week, said India accounted for 6 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP) but has a voting share at the IMF amounting to less than half that.

Rajan's term at the RBI ends in September next year, two months after Lagarde's current term comes to a close.

(Reuters)