Rate or stance?

RBI should focus more on addressing liquidity concerns

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das stoked a debate last week when he urged central banks across the world to think “out of the box” while speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington. Mr Das said the practice of changing policy rates by 25 basis points or in multiples thereof is “not sacrosanct and just a convention”. Another aspect that policy watchers keenly follow is the so-called policy “stance” of the RBI. Often enough, the stance signals a bigger shift in the RBI’s outlook and approach towards monetary policymaking than