RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has earned “A+” grade for the second consecutive year in the Global Finance Central Banker Report Cards 2024.

The grades are based on an “A+” to “F” scale for success in areas such as inflation control, economic growth goals, currency stability and interest rate management. “A” represents an excellent performance, down through “F” for outright failure.

Global Finance magazine, in a statement, said the full Central Banker Report Cards 2024 grade list will appear in its October print and digital editions as well as online at GFMag.com.

In its Central Banker Report Cards 2023, Global Finance said Das delivered solid GDP growth. In 2021, India’s economy grew by 9.1 per cent, near its all-time high, having chalked up 8.7 per cent the previous year.

“Add to that a promising trajectory in his other significant key performance indicator—controlling inflation—wherein the CPI declined from 6.5 per cent in January to 4.25 per cent in May, justifying a tight money campaign delivered via six repo rate hikes up to an April pause at 6.5 per cent, and Das must be proffered the proverbial cigar for outstanding performance.

“A surge in CPI to 7.4 per cent in July must be dismissed as an outlier due to the effects on food prices of irregular heavy monsoon rains. That pause, which Das describes as “a pause, not a pivot,” flew in the face of analysts’ consensus that rates would rise by 25 bps,” the magazine then said.

Meanwhile, a headline achievement was the rollout of liquidity rules for non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) and a regulatory framework that came into force last October for the oft-troubled NBFC sector, it added.

Published on August 20, 2024