Former RBI Governor YV Reddy Unveils His Memoir — ‘Advice And Dissent: My Life In Public Service’ 

By Prakash Pecheti

Hyderabad: Former RBI Governor and Padma Vibhushan Yaga Venugopal Reddy's memoir — Advice and Dissent: My Life in Public Service' was released at Taj Krishna here on Thursday.

YV Reddy's autobiography starts with his initial days as a sub-collector and the challenges and intricacies he had dealt with when he had held the apex post as a central banker.

"Having written 500 pages, I thought it's enough," YV Reddy smiled as he thanked his friends and well wishers who contributed in bringing the book out.

Speaking on the occasion, economist Deepak Nayyar recalled his association with YV Reddy when he was the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India and Secretary in the Ministry of Finance during 1990-91.

"I found the book engaging. From his initial days as a sub-collector to creative tensions with former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram at the Centre, YV Reddy is a man of strong convictions," Deepak Nayyar averred.

He further said that he found YV Reddy's story fascinating in the chapter — 'My Days with NTR' when the latter worked with former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and legendary actor NT Rama Rao.

Power of Gold, a chapter in the book which explains a gripping incident during YV Reddy’s stint when gold was confiscated from the smugglers. And despite being on leave, how YV Reddy managed to make the case public.

Fellow bureaucrats — former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subba Rao, Shyamala, Deepak Nayyar and Professor Pingle Goutham were among several others who shared their association with Reddy.

In all, 225 pages of the book are devoted to policy making during his tenure in the top post at the Reserve Bank. Former IAS officer Shyamala recalled that the regulation of the OTC derivatives was in place before the global financial crisis. And YV Reddy was instrumental in placing the mechanism right.