Commerce minister Nirmala  Sitharaman on Monday tried to play down the  controversy regarding RBI governor Raghuraman Rajan’s decision to quit,  saying “government respects his decision”.

“We appreciate his contribution and respect his tenure,” she said.

Raghuram Rajan announced on Saturday that he would not continue to head the central bank after his term expires on September 4.

Talking to members of the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) here on Monday, Sitharaman said she would not like to add to the speculations that Rajan’s announcement had shaken up the confidence of markets. “Is that a shake up,” she reacted when asked about the fall in sensex.

She however said the government was keenly watching the Brexit –  poll in UK to enable the country to determine if it should continue to be part of the European Union (EU)  – to see  what impact it would have  on exports. She said there were all kinds of analysis on whether the exit of UK from the EU would help India. “Frankly, at this moment, we are only watching the situation.”

Besides, she said, the changing economic situation – shrinking of economies and falling GDP in developing countries like Brazil and oil producing nations like Venezuela – would have a definite impact on the Indian exports.

Sitharaman announced that despite the not-so-good global situation, the Indian startup scenario was encouraging and the government was planning a major meet of the startups and investors in Hyderabad in September.  She admitted that the startups in India were already the third largest cluster in the world even before the advent of the Narendra Modi government.

 She claimed that the Modi government had paid attention to creating incubation hubs like a cluster of colleges. Now the government was working on focusing on creating these hubs in tier two cities.

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