RBI's stimulus is a bold wager on price stability

The central bank's evolving role in India's economic stability has placed it within reach of maturity in capping inflation. Its monetary policy easing makes 2025-26 a crucial test year

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If anyone needs a layperson's refresher on the role played by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in steadying our economy during the crisis of 1991, the first episode of a documentary series called RBI Unlocked: Beyond the Rupee is a breezy watch. As a visual bonus, it even offers a glimpse of India's gold stash. But its subtitle is ironic. While RBI evolved rapidly after 1991 in line with India's embrace of market principles—the rupee was largely floated, ad hoc government funding ended, private banks were okayed, etc—its last leap of evolution was squarely in aid of the rupee. Or, to be specific, the stability of its internal value over time. This job is so elementary, it's taken as a given for any central bank.