Graphic explanation

Unlike in the previous years, the cover of the government’s Mid-Year Economic Analysis booklet had a line graph showing how inflation and the repo rate have moved. The graph clearly indicated that though inflation had shown some signs of moderation, interest rates remained high. A subtle message for the Reserve Bank of India, given that the analysis came just a day before the mid-quarter monetary policy review? Chief Economic Adviser Raghuram Rajan countered that too much should not be read into the diagram. “We were looking to create some vibrancy beyond the standard colourless front page. There were two options. One was to put a photograph of a bank teller or a lady buying vegetables in the market. The other was to present a graph... There is no message. I have been very frank about what I think about monetary policy and don’t send sub-texts,” he said.