Banks' association leader calls for Urjit Patel's resignation: Report

The Vice President of the All India Bank Officers Association, which represents over 2.5 lakh senior bankers, has called for the resignation of Reserve Bank of India Govenor Urjit Patel, in the wake of the "havoc" caused in the aftermath of the government's move to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes, a report in The Indian Express, said. 

The report quoted D Thomas Franco, senior vice president of the Association, saying that the RBI Governor should take "moral responsibility for the crisis and the deaths of people including 11 bank officers in the last 12 days."

Franco said that while neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, were economists, it was failure on the part of Patel to gauge the implication of the demonetization move before it was rolled out. 

Modi, in a televised address, announced the decommissioning of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from the economy, thereby removing nearly 86% of the currency (in value), overnight. Now in its third week, there has been unending chaos and lines outside banks and ATMs to withdraw money, exchange or deposit the old notes. While the government announced the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes, their commissioning has been patchy. 

According to a report in Quartz, Patel backed Modi's decision to demonetize the high-denomination notes, saying it was a "very bold step" which will take care of the "growing menace of fake Indian currency notes." However, beyond this, there has been no other statement from the RBI governor in the public.