Central Bank and Government

The first governor of the RBI, Osborne Smith, resigned his job only 18 months after he joined and two years before his term was to expire. The first puzzle is why the official history of the RBI, as late as 1985, does not give the real story behind this episode. Smith's technical competence was never in doubt. But the then finance member James Grigg had an antipathy to Smith and worked to frustrate him. This article uses primary and archival sources to unravel the mystery.