Ahead of this year’s budget amid a debate on whether India should spend more to arrest the slowdown at the risk of breaching the fiscal ceiling mandated by law, one influential voice strongly advised caution. The way to spurring growth wasn’t by overspending, that voice said, but by staying the course on macro-economic management even if it means settling for a relatively lower growth in the near term. Because the cost of instability far outweighs any small growth benefits through aggressive policies.
That was Raghuram Rajan, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, who, as economist, professor, researcher, author and now central banker, has a remarkable record of prescience.
Rajan will inaugurate the Ramnath Goenka Lecture series on Saturday, March 12 in New Delhi. The series is being launched by The Express Group to mark 25 years of the passing away of Ramnath Goenka, the founder of The Indian Express.
“The lectures will, in the spirit of Ramnathji and the newspaper, aim to deepen understanding of change and inspire debate on issues of vital contemporary interest,” said Viveck Goenka, chairman, the Express Group.
“We couldn’t have had a better person than Dr Rajan to launch this exciting journey of ideas for our readers.”
Rajan’s choice of subject, ‘India in the global economy,’ couldn’t have come at a more relevant time.
Given the weak global economic prospects and a growing impatience with India, the calming influence of the central bank chief has been cited as a major positive by fidgety global investors. Rajan has weighed in with the government pointing to how India appears to be an island of relative calm in an ocean of turmoil.
As central banker of one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Rajan brings to his policymaking, his formidable record as Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund and a distinguished career teaching at Chicago University’s Booth School of Business. His writing on the global economy, public finance and policy, has set the benchmark in the field. Rajan who was voted early this year as the Central Banker of the Year by UK-based Banker has also been at the forefront of a policy response along with the government to address critical banking reforms including the problem of the huge pile-up of bad loans.