Op-Eds

Interview of Dr Mridul Saggar, IEPF Chair Professor at NCAER and former MPC member, with Latha Venkatesh, discussing September CPI inflation data, was aired on CNBC TV18 on Thursday, 13 October 2022. Watch the programme here. For the full discussion, watch the video Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Citi India's Samiran Chakraborty and former MPC member, Mridul Saggar...   Read More

Open economy challenges may haunt policies ahead as spillovers intensify A common economic sophism is that fiscal policy can prop up growth even when monetary policy is assigned to bringing inflation under control. In the short run, lifting demand amid supply constraints will only fuel inflation and the twin deficits, with a wider fiscal gap...   Read More

Opinion: Mridul Saggar: Amid high inflation and exchange rate pressures, rate hikes and tight liquidity are the best bet. The RBI has been broadly getting its act right amid difficult circumstances. In my assessment, it has traversed about three-fourths of the amplitude of the current rate hiking cycle, but the economy is stronger than before....   Read More

Dominance of banking by PSBs has also been a hurdle in the way of improving the regulatory regime, which, in turn, hampers the modernisation and, therefore, healthy growth of the sector. This is because RBI has limited regulatory jurisdiction over PSBs. Indeed, this fact has at times provided RBI an easy cover for its own...   Read More

IEPF Chair Professor Dr Mridul Saggar speaks to Latha Venkatesh, CNBC TV18 on “RBI’s Monetary Policy Announcement in the CNBC Indianomics program, 30 September 2022. Watch the Video

Immersion of idols laced with harmful chemicals does an irreparable damage to a river, time to stop sinning against salvator. It is that time of the year again, when the devout prepare fancy and exotic idols of gods and goddesses, venerate them for a few days and then consign them to the waters of our...   Read More

While collecting official statistics will always be a purview of state institutions, they must be governed by independent governing bodies that can ensure scientific integrity and broad oversight. We seem fascinated with statistical soundbites, vacillating between the bizarre and the expedient. In October 2021, major newspapers featured stories that claimed that over 100 million Indians...   Read More

In India, the inflation target (for CPI headline inflation) was set at 4%, with an upper tolerance limit of 6% and a lower limit of 2%. GoI constituted a six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), including three ex-officio members from RBI with the RBI governor as its chairperson, the deputy governor in charge of monetary policy,...   Read More

In the platform economy workers function in a formalised realm but without benefits of tenure or welfare One of the research questions that the NITI Aayog report ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy: Perspectives and Recommendations on the Future of Work’ poses is whether platforms are formalising or informalising the economy? We attempt a conceptual...   Read More

India’s annual GDP growth 7% plus is the continuation of an ongoing acceleration. The question is whether this can last. One country stands out from the gloomy overall tone of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent update of its World Economic Outlook. Against the backdrop of tepid 3.2% global growth in 2022 the IMF expects...   Read More