Better safe than sorry

At the C D Deshmukh Memorial Lecture organised last week by the National Council of Applied Economic Research, its director, Shekhar Shah, had an awkward moment when his voice cracked during his address. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan came to Shah's rescue by walking up to him and offering him a glass of water. After recovering his composure Shah said, "When the RBI governor offers you water when you need it, you know monetary policy is in the right hands." Rajan, in his lecture, later at the same event, said he preferred the path of macroeconomic stability to reckless economic growth. In his policy review on February 2, the governor did not cut policy rates, preferring to wait for Budget announcements on fiscal consolidation.