Appointment of Modi loyalist a worrying step for RBI

The first briefing from the RBI’s new governor, Shaktikanta Das, sought to provide assurance that the central bank will continue to prioritise inflation fighting. But his background at the finance ministry and as a Modi loyalist suggests that he is more likely to lend a sympathetic ear to the government’s wishes than this two predecessors, Urjit Patel and Raghuram Rajan. The risk is that this results in looser-than-required policy that allows inflation to return as a major macroeconomic threat.