Today's RBI policy may be Subbarao's last major initiative

Tuesday's monetary policy announcements will be the last major action by Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao, unless he gets another extension.

The term of Subbarao as RBI chief ends on September 4, while the next mid-quarter policy review is due on September 18.

It has been a roller-coaster ride for Subbarao who in his five year tenure battled the impact of global financial crisis, followed by high inflation, declining growth and now the weakening Rupee.

Subbarao, who was then the Finance Secretary, took over as RBI Governor in September 2008 and got an extension of two years in 2011 for his 'good job'.

He played a key role in steering the country out of the global financial meltdown following the fall of America's iconic investment banker Lehman Brothers in 2008.

He also resisted the pressure from the government as well as the industry to reduce interest rates while according precedence to controlling inflation over promoting growth.

With his hawkish policy measures, he was able to bring down inflation to below 5 per cent from double digit level, while possibly sacrificing growth which during 2012-13 touched a decade low of 5 per cent.

In Tuesday's policy review, Subbarao opted to maintain status quo on interest rates with a view to stabilise the Rupee, which had touched an all time low of 61.21 to a dollar on July 8.

Under his governorship, RBI had doubled the frequency of monetary policy reviews from every quarter to eight times a year with a view to bring down the need for off-cycle rate moves.

Subbarao had served as a senior official in the Finance Ministry in the early 1990s when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the finance minister.