

Malhotra’s first year as RBI governor saw India’s economy break into a Goldilocks run but we can’t take it for granted
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” wrote Shakespeare in his play Henry IV. The English playwright was talking about a king by that name, not of any central bank governor.
In any case, even the Bank of England was founded only in 1694, almost a century after that play was written.A latter-day dramatist tempted to say the same of the head of a central bank would not be too far off the mark, though, whether it is about Jerome Powell, chairperson of the US Federal Reserve, who has had to face the prolonged ire of President Donald Trump, or anybody else with this unenviably difficult job.What about the 26th governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)? Ever since techie-turned-bureaucrat Sanjay Malhotra took charge on 11 December 2024, one event after another has rattled the certainty that helps frame monetary policy.The first meeting of RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) chaired by Governor Malhotra was held just days after President Trump fired his first trade salvo, levying tariffs on two of America’s closest allies, Canada and Mexico, apart from archrival China. The second meeting followed Trump’s Liberation Day announcement of ‘reciprocal’ tariffs.
There has been no let up since then. Each of the next four MPC meetings was held under the shadow of either steeper US tariffs or threats of fresh levies.The rupee, meanwhile, has weakened dramatically.
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