India extends hawkish central bank governor's term

India extended the term of the country's hawkish central bank governor for another two years as it sought to ensure policy continuity in the face of heightened global financial instability. D. Subbarao's new stint as head of the Reserve Bank of India will run from September 5 to Sept 4, 2013, the government said. Under Subbarao's leadership, the Reserve Bank has been the most aggressive central bank in Asia, hiking benchmark interest rates 11 times since March 2010 in a bid to cool inflation which is near double digits. Finance Minster Pranab Mukherjee said the government decided to reappoint Subbarao as he was doing a "good job". "Though there was time (to make the announcement) till September, we decided we should do it quickly to ensure that there is no uncertainty," Mukherjee said. Subbarao, who took over leadership of the bank in 2008, played a key role in steering Asia's third-largest economy out of the global financial crisis in 2008-09.