Urjit Patel, whose stint as the head of the central bank was one of the most tumultuous in recent times that ended with the rare event of an RBI Governor resigning, will be releasing a book later this month, his publishers have said.

Titled ‘Overdraft: Saving the Indian Saver’, the book focuses on the non-performing assets (NPAs) issue that has afflicted Indian banking in recent years, its causes and Mr. Patel’s efforts as the RBI Governor in dealing with it.

Books or memoirs written by two of his immediate predecessors – Raghuram Rajan and D. Subbarao – had shed light on various subjects like the RBI’s autonomy, interest rates or its stance on demonetisation.

Mr. Patel, under whose governorship the note ban was carried out, surprised all by resigning from the RBI in December 2018.

The resignation came at a time when relations between the government and the RBI had soured, with the former threatening to invoke a never-before used clause to give directions to the central bank.

The RBI under Mr. Patel was reportedly averse to the government’s wishes on getting extra capital held by the central bank, restructuring loans to small businesses and providing liquidity support to the troubled non-bank lenders.

Mr. Patel was seen as very strict on the issue of NPAs and governance at banks, especially the private sector ones, where the RBI replaced the heads of ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, and started probing Yes Bank more closely.

The RBI had begun a thorough asset quality review (AQR) to find out the hidden stress on banks’ books when Patel was a deputy governor and he carried forward the same work.