RBI-government spat shows central bank's independence, says Morgan Stanley India research head Ridham Desai
FirstpostMumbai: American brokerage Morgan Stanley on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank is more independent than it was in the past and the debate triggered by deputy governor Viral Acharya last week illustrates the progress on this front. The fact that it is there in the media, the fact that it is there in the open, suggests that we are a whole lot progressive than we were ever,” the brokerage firm’s India research head Ridham Desai told reporters here. Desai said both present Governor Urjit Patel and his predecessor Raghuram Rajan got the issue of independence sorted out with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when the Monetary Policy Committee for rate setting was formed. “Governments that do not respect central bank independence will sooner or later incur the wrath of financial markets, ignite economic fire, and come to rue the day they undermined an important regulatory institution,” Acharya had said delivering a lecture here.