 "Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das")
Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das often cites the example of Arjuna’s eye to convey that the central bank is focussed on bringing down inflation. Not just Mahabharata, this former bureaucrat’s speeches and addresses are frequently peppered with cricketing terms while explaining a complex monetary policy or a banking concept. His reference to Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘Aaj fir jeene ka tamanna hain…’ last year after a monetary policy meeting had gone viral. So did his message to bankers that they should play like Rahul Dravid. At the Ficci-IBA banking seminar on Wednesday, he was in a mood to explain the softer side of communication that he has used so many times to bring out the essence of hardcore finance.
“I just read about household inflation expectations. How is the household expectation formed? It is impacted by real experience like when they buy groceries or pay electricity bills. How does the central bank influence household expectations?,” he asked. And then he replied himself: “Central bank can influence expectations, one is by taking actions like increasing interest rate or tightening liquidity and then backing it up with appropriate communication. Communication has to be in a manner which reaches a wider audience including households, particularly those living in tier 2, tier 3 cities.’’
Das said one should not assume that an ordinary household is not aware of what is being said by the policy makers. ‘’They are reading the newspapers, they know what is happening.’’ He elaborated that the central bank, which has to manage household inflation expectation, must do it in a manner that it reaches the wider audience. ‘’When I explain the issues by drawing similes from Mahabharata etc, at least I am convinced that we are reaching out to a wider audience,” Das said.
Yes, he has been asked privately, at times, if he’s not diluting the seriousness of things by talking about cricket and Bollywood. To that, his answer would be that the central bank needs its messages to reach the common man on the street. Why else would a CISF person ask him a few things at the airport security check?
Das, who took charge as RBI governor in December 2018, is known for his approach towards dialogue and communication with stakeholders. He has held interaction with bankers and other financial sector entities on a regular basis in the last five years even as Rahul Dravid, Lata Mangeshkar and Arjuna’s eye from Mahabharata have remained part of his vocabulary.
