Central Banks

India Rate Setter Asks RBI to Talk Clearly for Greater Good

  • Policy stance no longer reflects intent, says Jayanth Varma
  • Favors switch to neutral stance or scrapping it altogether
The RBI head office in Mumbai.Photographer: Indranil Aditya/Bloomberg
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An outspoken member in India’s rate-setting body has criticized the central bank of being non-transparent about its policy intent and confusing the public with technicalities.

“The monetary policy committee should not be content with communicating to an ‘inside’ audience of regulated entities in a coded language, but should endeavor to communicate with the general public in as transparent a language as possible,” Jayanth Rama Varma, an external member in the Reserve Bank of India’s six-member panel, said in an interview via email.