The fourth bimonthly Monetary Policy press meet could possibly be the shortest that journalists covering the RBI have attended at its headquarters.
Though half-an-hour was specified as the duration of the conference, it was quickly wrapped up in about 20 minutes. Journalists used to Raghuram Rajan’s detailed explanation and response to questions had to adjust to the new Governor Urjit Patel’s brief and to-the-point statement.
With the RBI releasing three documents — the Monetary Policy document, the statement on developmental and regulatory policies, and the resolution of the monetary policy committee (MPC) — in a span of one-and-a-hours hours, the media had many questions. However, there was time only to take four-five queries.
Patel, who took over the reins at the RBI on September 4, prefaced the conference by stating: “I know that the media had to work a little bit harder this time because of the change in time (of the press meet from 11.10 am to 2.45 pm) which has been necessitated not to make things harder but due to the process and time logistics which is entailed in the committee decision making mode that we are now in.
“We did a scan of central banks and have introduced a mid-afternoon policy. This is broadly the norm elsewhere.”
Welcoming the external MPC members the Governor said they will be a source of support to the RBI and will help in enhancing the process of monetary policy making.
“Our discussions were frank, often intense but always friendly. We allowed each to other speak but ensured that there is no rancour and that at the end of the day we agreed on an MPC resolution that we placed before the country.”