Drawing inspiration from Arjuna’s prowess in archery during the Swayamvar of Draupadi in the epic Mahabharata, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the central bank is zeroing in on inflation. He also said, “Our constant endeavour is to keep an eye on inflation, which is our primary target.”
While addressing the FIBAC 2022 Conference, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor said on Wednesday, “In the Mahabharata, great warrior and archer Arjuna was aiming at the eye of the revolving fish.” There was a fish, and the fish was revolving, and he was looking at it through a pool of water that was underneath. I’m quite certain that he would have certainly assessed the speed at which the fish was revolving, the wind conditions prevailing, the intensity of the ripples in the pool of water below, the noise levels in the kings’ court, and similar other factors,” and added that “our constant endeavour is to keep an eye on inflation, which is our primary target.” The FIBAC 2022 Conference is jointly organised by FICCI and the Indian Banks Association.
Das said, “When international prices of wheat went up, in India, despite there being a surplus in the foodgrain, our domestic wheat prices also went up.” Crude oil prices hit USD 130 per barrel. So on 24 February, when the Ukraine and Russia war started, it completely changed the entire picture.
Speaking on curbing inflation, he said, “Because of the inflation-targeting framework, until Covid-19 hit our country or the world, our average CPI (consumer price index) inflation was 3.9 percent from 2016 to February 2020. Similarly now, when the war started this year in February, in April we announced in our monetary policy the number of measures that were taken.”
Talking about the current state of the economy, Shaktikanta Das said, “Now, where do we stand today? The growth momentum has been sustained.”