RBI not alone: India in spotlight as global central banks battle populists

PM Modi wants to keep India's economy firing as he campaigns for re-election next year. RBI Governor Urjit Patel has other priorities

It’s open season on central bank chiefs. In the U.S., President Donald Trump has complained that the Federal Reserve has gone “loco” because its interest rate hikes threaten to snuff out his deficit-swelling, tax cut stimulus. Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio accused his compatriot Mario Draghi of “poisoning the atmosphere” after the European Central Bank president warned that the country’s borrowing costs would escalate unless the government pared back its spending plans.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to keep India’s economy firing as he campaigns for re-election next year. His administration has been pressing the central bank to hand