S Gurumurthy slaps notice on UK-based The Economist

S Gurumurthy, the Reserve Bank of India board member and an economist, sent a defamation notice to London-based weekly magazine The Economist for publishing an article that questioned his credentials to be on the board of RBI directors. The report also questioned Gurumurthy’s knowledge of economics.

The Chennai-based chartered accountant and a well-known commentator on political and economic affairs, in the 15-page notice, sent on January 6, has sought an unconditional apology from the magazine’s chief editor, the author of the article and Mohan Guruswamy. He has also asked for the withdrawal of the libellous remarks within the next two issues.

“In the event that you elect not to pay heed to the present notice, we will be constrained to institute appropriate legal proceedings, both civil and criminal, and it would be entirely up to you to risk the consequences,” he said. 

Gurumurthy was quoted in The Economist as saying “the subject of economics is collapsing” and should be replaced by an Indian economics based on Swadeshi (self-reliance).

The article was published after the government in August last year had appointed Gurumurthy as a part-time director on the RBI board. Gurumurthy said the article has caused him ‘irreparable damage’, and also denied having any fight with economist Jagdish Bhagwati, which was mentioned in the article. Gurumurthy also mentioned that he has always rejected all the government positions offered to him and wanted to remain independent of the governments.