SC Blames RBI, Govt for Slip-up, But Who Pays for YES Bank AT-1 Verdict

The court ruling revives bondholders’ claims, but any resulting cost will fall on a bank whose ownership has changed since its 2020 rescue.

Anil Katia

iStock.com

RBI’s FX Moves

The RBI’s Explanation Should Not Follow the Confusion

A useful interview cannot substitute for timely explanations. The RBI needs written clarity on its decisions, not after markets start guessing.

Kalyan Ram

A Better Close Does Not Guarantee Better Settlement

SEBI’s closing auction may improve price discovery, but that does not automatically make the same price the best benchmark for derivatives settlement.

Basis View

Is Quick Commerce Making FMCG Brands Pay for Their Own Customers

Quick commerce is boosting FMCG sales, but brands risk paying platforms to reach existing customers without adding meaningful growth or profit.

Krishnadevan V

Opinion

Beyond the ₹100,000 Limit: Rethinking How UPI Classifies Small Merchants

India’s small-merchant UPI rules rely on a ₹100,000 monthly threshold. As digital payments grow, that limit may no longer identify the businesses it was designed to protect.

Rabi N. Mishra

Komal Gupta

A Divided US Congress Won’t Shield India From Trump’s Tariffs

A Democratic House may constrain Trump procedurally, but tariffs and dollar strength will persist. India’s gains will depend on its ability to compete for investment

Nilanjan Banik

Part 2

India's Growth Rebalancing: A Patchwork of Crisis Responses, Not a Strategy

India’s growth push has relied on tax cuts, subsidies, capex and trade deals, but the measures look more like crisis responses than a sequenced strategy.

Arvind Mayaram

Columnists

Vivek Kaul

Vivek Kaul is a writer and an economic commentator.

Michael Debabrata Patra

Michael Patra is an economist and former RBI Deputy Governor.

Duvvuri Subbarao

Dr Subbarao is a former governor of RBI

Arvind Mayaram

Arvind Mayaram, former Finance Secretary, is Chairman of the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur.

Ashima Goyal

Dr Ashima Goyal is an Economist, Ex MPC Member.

Ajay Srivastava

Ajay Srivastava is the founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative.

Abheek Barua

Abheek Barua is the former Chief Economist of HDFC Bank. He teaches at Ashoka University.

Vijay Chauhan

Vijay Singh Chauhan, a former IRS official, is a Senior Visiting Fellow at ICPP, Ashoka University

R. Gurumurthy

Gurumurthy is an ex-central banker who handled markets, and later, financial stability for RBI.

Gaura Sen Gupta

Gaura is Chief Economist at IDFC First Bank.

Sharmila Kantha

Sharmila Kantha is an industrial policy specialist and author.

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)

Lt Gen Hasnain is Governor, Bihar, and Former Commander of Chinar Corps.

Dhananjay Sinha

Dhananjay, a D-School alum, is CEO and Co-Head of Equities at Systematix Group.

Sharmila Chavaly

Ex-civil servant Chavaly held key Railways, Finance roles; specialises in infra & PPPs

Srinath Sridharan

Srinath is an author, corporate advisor, and independent director on corporate boards.

Amitabh Tiwari

Amitabh Tiwari tracks politics with a strategic eye

Vivek Kaul

Vivek Kaul is a writer and an economic commentator.

Michael Debabrata Patra

Michael Patra is an economist and former RBI Deputy Governor.

Basis Shorts

October 15

Global Relief Meets RBI Anxiety on the Swap Curve

RBI Cannot Interrogate Away Dollar Demand

The 10-Year Benchmark Nears a Record Size—and a Handover

Call Rate Crosses MSF as Banking Liquidity Surplus Shrinks

The Rupee Gets Protection, Bonds Get the Bill

October 14

NABARD’s Bond Sale to Test the Price of Investor Appetite

IDBI Sale May Push Divestment Receipts Above Target

T-Bill Auction Reveals the Cost of Tighter Money

India’s Liquidity Surplus Faces Diwali Test as RBI FX Intervention Drains Funds

Rupee Defence Bets Push OIS Rates Higher, Flatten the Curve

The Bureau

Supreme Court Upholds Order Quashing Yes Bank AT-1 Bond Write-off - Mint

Text of RBI's FAQ on FERR

Indian banks’ offshore dollar bond window narrows sharply after August sprint

Govt Approves Fairfax’s ₹528.78 Billion bid for IDBI Bank

RBI Governor Says Ready to Act to Keep Rupee Orderly - Moneycontrol

PODCAST: Does Monetary Policy Need a New Paradigm with Abheek Barua

India Can Grow at 7% — But Reforms Must Go Deeper

Masterclass with Michael Patra

International Dimensions of Monetary Policy

Michael Patra explains how exchange rate regimes shape monetary policy independence and why global forces constrain domestic policy choices

Michael Debabrata Patra

The Rupee Needs Resolve, Not Reprimands

The RBI can make betting against the rupee harder. Restoring confidence requires firmer monetary policy, not a verdict on markets’ rationality.

Kalyan Ram

RBI’s FX Moves

What Else Is the Rupee Defending?

India’s GDP ambitions carry a political timetable. Rupee depreciation adds to the risk of pushing that timetable back.

Basis View

Briefing

Why the RBI Followed a Rate Hike with a Crackdown

The chronology suggests the rupee’s post-policy fall turned an old concern about dollar positioning into a crackdown on importers and banks.

BasisPoint Insight

Fickle FPIs are punching above their weight for now; MFs below

Mutual fund buying has outgunned FPI selling by a factor of over 5x even as markets continue to tank. The relationship isn't entirely cut and dry, though

Ujval Nanavati

As Long as Retail Investors Stay in La-La Land, It’s Always Summer for OPM Wallahs

Why are retail investors pouring money into select funds at stretched valuations, and why are fund managers so silent about the risks investors are taking in pursuit of returns?

Vivek Kaul

India Eases TV Ad Rules But Broadcasters Still Have To Sell Attention

India has eased TV ad rules, giving broadcasters more inventory to sell. The question is whether more advertising will create revenue or cheaper inventory.

Krishnadevan V

The RBI Buys Time, but Can It Turn the Rupee Around?

Costlier hedging may ease pressure on the rupee, but a lasting turnaround needs stronger capital inflows, not just restrictions on dollar demand.

Yield Scribe

Geopolitics

The Houthis Are No Longer Just Iran's Proxies

How precision warfare, Saudi vulnerability and new regional alignments are changing the balance of power in the Red Sea

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)

MPC Review

The Dangers and Benefits of Forward Guidance

Rigid rate guidance risks constraining monetary policy, while clearer communication on exchange rates can steady markets.

Ashima Goyal

UPI MDR

Cost of Sustainability Must Not Become the Cost of Digital Exclusion

India’s new UPI merchant fee framework seeks to make digital payments sustainable, but policymakers must ensure higher costs do not push small merchants back towards cash.

Rabi N. Mishra

Komal Gupta

India’s 2047 Dream Will Depend on a Productivity Revolution

India cannot become a high-income economy on growth alone. Productive jobs, technological innovation and competitive industries must turn its advantages into lasting prosperity.

Rajeev Verma

Punjab 2027: Does a SAD-BJP Reunion Make Sense?

SAD-BJP reunion could revive both parties, but vote transfer will decide if it can challenge AAP and Congress in Punjab.

Amitabh Tiwari

Week in Numbers: Tracking India’s Economic Pulse

Services activity improved in September, but weaker readings in July and August dragged average growth during the quarter to its lowest since the quarter ended March 2022.

Datametricx

Ten Arms, One Leap: Why Humans Keep Betting on a Better Tomorrow

Durga pooled her powers, Delhi’s youth took to the streets, and the RBI hiked. Why every act of progress is a leap of faith, even a 25 bps one.

Phynix

Satire

THE TRAGEDY OF TATA

Tata’s founders return in a fictional Greek satire where independence needs permission, and every governance crisis generates recurring revenue for lawyers.

Ashutosh Tyagi

RBI’s FX Barricades Expose the Limits of Borrowed Stability

The RBI’s $143 billion swap mobilisation has failed to ease rupee pressure. Fresh currency controls reveal the limits of debt-funded reserves

Dhananjay Sinha

If This is a Bear Market, I Am Amitabh Bachchan

When memories of easy gains meet months of stagnation, can investors distinguish a market in crisis from one that is simply testing their patience?

Vivek Kaul

India’s Services Exporters Face a Declaration Raj

The RBI’s new export declaration adds to small firms’ paperwork. Its value should be measured against the recurring compliance burden it creates.

Anand Venkatanarayanan

Arjun Raghavendra M.

India's Hidden Connectivity Shock

Fuel prices have grown exponentially, but that is not the only crisis for airlines. Troubled airspace given the West Asia situation, and increasing security risks are costing carriers passengers, increasing cost

Sagari Gupta

RBI’s FX Moves

RBI Borrows a Page from China’s Currency Playbook

The RBI’s China-style reserve rule seeks to slow dollar buying, but lower forward premiums may come at the cost of leaving importers less hedged.

Kalyan Ram

Does Monetary Policy Need a New Paradigm?

With the world now in a permacrisis, monetary policy needs a new operating paradigm, as the RBI may not be dealing with textbook supply shocks.

Abheek Barua

RBI’s FX Moves

RBI Takes Currency Defence into the Derivatives Book with a Reserve Rule

How the RBI’s forex risk reserve changes hedge pricing, why bank charges matter and what could happen if importers leave currency risks unhedged

Anil Katia

RBI’s FX Moves

Prudence Penalised, Leverage Encouraged

The RBI’s curbs could punish genuine hedgers without addressing the outflows weakening the rupee or restoring confidence in the policy framework.

V Thiagarajan

Pidilite Tips Its Hat to Fevicol’s Adman but the Walls Must Hold

Pidilite honours the man who made Fevicol famous. Its next test is making waterproofing work on site, where a familiar brand cannot prevent a poorly done job.

Krishnadevan V

Eroding Investor Protection in the Era of Ease of Doing Business

SEBI’s push for easier compliance raises questions about investor protection, access to grievance redress and the credibility of its enforcement.

Indra Chourasia

Court Unquote

Protests Against CEC, Jane Street Case, Pharma, Big Food Cases, and More

Your weekly rundown of significant judicial rulings and legal battles influencing policy, companies, regulation, and governance

BasisPoint Insight

MPC Review

The RBI Still Understates Inflation

The RBI’s rate hike acknowledges rising inflation, but its diagnosis understates cost pressures, uneven demand and risks from abundant liquidity.

Dhananjay Sinha

MPC Review

A Terminal Repo Rate of 6% Should Be Enough, for Now

A 6% terminal rate may suffice if core inflation is contained, but surplus liquidity and the risk of cost pass-through complicate the RBI’s task.

Sameer Narang

Part 1

India's Foreign Capital Exodus: A Wage Story, Not Just a Confidence One

Why are record corporate profits failing to translate into new factories, and can consumption sustain growth when workers receive a shrinking share of the value they help to create?

Arvind Mayaram

MPC Review

The RBI Is Making Haste Slowly

The RBI has settled the direction of rates, not the pace. A cautious inflation diagnosis faces a harder test from the dollar and financial risks.

Kalyan Ram

Can Telangana Crack the $3 Trillion Growth Code by 2047?

Telangana’s $3 trillion ambition requires a sharp growth acceleration, stronger public finances and coordinated policy across its urban, industrial and rural regions.

Deba Prasad Rath

Rewanth Raichooti

US Green-Card Freeze: Limited Immediate Impact, Larger Risks for Indian IT

The US green-card sponsorship freeze for major Indian IT firms has limited immediate impact, but signals tougher immigration curbs ahead, potentially accelerating India-based delivery and GCC growth.

Ajay Srivastava

MPC Review

A Pragmatic Hike With a Hawkish Tail

With price pressures broadening and growth holding up, attention turns to liquidity and expectations. How will oil, the rupee and global yields shape the decisions still to come?

Radhika Piplani

MPC Review

RBI Rate Hike Cycle Starts; How Far Can It Go?

Inflation pressures are rising and resilient growth provides the RBI with the space to respond. However, the path ahead remains conditional.

Sakshi Gupta

IRDAI’s Insurance Reset Needs Stronger Consumer Safeguards

IRDAI’s distribution reforms address deep incentive problems. Their success will depend on consumer protection, viable last-mile economics, product suitability and credible regulatory enforcement.

Srinath Sridharan

Satire

Everyone Has a Theory, I Have Losses

From planetary cycles to calibrated policy, the explanations keep coming. Knowing what to do with my money is another matter. Revised headline and teaser

R. Gurumurthy

The India-Pakistan Cold War

The current stalemate between India and Pakistan should be viewed not as a pause between rounds of negotiation, but rather as part of a deliberate Indian strategy of disengagement. India will return to the negotiating table only after Pakistan dismantles, comprehensively and verifiably, its state-supported terrorist networks.

Shashi Tharoor

UPI’s Next Challenge: Can India Keep Digital Payments Sustainable?

UPI has made digital payments nearly frictionless. The challenge now is funding that infrastructure without discouraging merchants from going cashless

D. Tripati Rao

Adv. Shivam Rai

Pooja Teotia

MPC Preview

Case for a Hawkish 25-bps Hike

A timely rate hike will allow the RBI to avoid bigger hikes that are disorderly and hurt growth, with 3–4 hikes needed to achieve neutral monetary policy settings.

Abhishek Upadhyay

The UPI Checkout Test: Who Will Bear the Merchant Fee?

The rules say merchants will pay UPI’s new fee. But at the checkout, prices, payment choices and ingenuity could tell a different story. Who will ultimately pick up the tab?

K. S Sujit

One Policy Rate, Two Benchmarks: Why Borrowers Feel Different Cycles

The Monetary Policy Committee meets on 7 October to decide a rate. It cannot decide, and rarely discusses, who that rate reaches.

Sanya Agarwal

MPC Review

Rupee at 100 for One-Year Delivery Tests RBI’s Reassurance

The rupee may be undervalued, but dollar demand, costly oil and weak capital flows leave the RBI managing a decline it cannot simply talk away.

Richard Fargose

MPC Review

The Business Risks Are Bigger Than 25 bps

Rising input costs, tighter finance and global uncertainty are testing corporate plans. Can businesses protect margins and sustain investment as these pressures reinforce each other?

Anuj Agarwal

MPC Special

When Everyone Protests, Even Bonds are Voting with Their Feet

We are stepping outside our weekly schedule ahead of the policy decision because agreement on a likely rate hike is concealing some consequential disagreements about what should accompany it.

Phynix

MPC Preview

What Is the RBI Hiking For?

RBI looks set to hike. The real question is whether it is catching up with markets or committing to a sustained fight to restore inflation to 4%.

Basis View

MPC Review

RBI Unambiguously Signals Rate Tightening Cycle

While the 25bps rate hike was widely expected, the change in stance to ‘calibrated tightening’ has taken everyone by surprise

Sachchidanand Shukla

What Tata Sons and RBI Each Owe the Other

The RBI refused Tata Sons' bid to exit CIC regulation. The case tests whether a holding company can know what it must show to change its status.

Chandrika Soyantar

How a Prolonged Iran War Could Strengthen the US Energy Position

A prolonged Iran war could deepen energy supply disruptions, redirect Asian demand towards the US and strengthen America’s role in global energy trade

Yashveer Singh

MPC Preview

Time for RBI to Bite the Bullet

Broader inflation pressures and a falling rupee call for an October rate hike, but surplus liquidity could blunt its impact.

Indranil Pan

How China’s New Investment and Export Controls Jeopardise India’s Economic Choices

India is opening doors to Chinese investment. Beijing is tightening its grip on what can leave. What happens when India’s industrial ambitions meet China’s new rules?

Sharmila Kantha

Investors Cannot Do Everyone’s Homework

Investors must judge prices and risks, but financial literacy cannot make up for opaque disclosures, unclear official data or flawed market rules

Krishnadevan V

The Banker HDFC Bank Found Across the Rivalry

Anup Bagchi’s move to HDFC Bank puts an ICICI veteran in charge of its fiercest rival and brings a wider leadership network across Indian finance into view.

Rishikesh Patel

Krishnadevan V

Videos

Does Monetary Policy Need a New Paradigm?

Kalyan Ram

Abheek Barua

Is the RBI Behind the Curve?

Gaura Sen Gupta

Dhiraj Nim

IRDAI for Cap on Commissions, Single Distribution Entity, More Disclosure: Who Gains, Who Loses?

Rajesh Mahapatra

Srinath Sridharan

RBI Hikes Rates, but Why Did the Rupee Fall?

Rajesh Mahapatra

Kalyan Ram

Masterclass with Michael Patra

Operational Realities in Monetary Policy Transmission

Monetary policy transmission begins instantly in money markets, but frictions across rates, bonds and bank credit weaken its speed and strength.

Michael Debabrata Patra

Why Climate Finance Is Becoming a Sovereign Debt Problem

The convergence of fiscal and monetary risks is shaping the climate finance debate. As debt grows and capital costs climb, can countries fund resilience without deepening the trap?

Arvind Mayaram

Interview

Why the Govt Must Resist the Urge to Cut Import Duties on Pulses

Cheaper imports promise relief from rising pulse prices. But could a duty cut before rabi sowing carry a hidden cost? Former Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain weighs the choices facing farmers and policymakers.

Rajesh Mahapatra

Securing the Siliguri Corridor in an Age of Hybrid Threats

The threat to India’s narrow gateway to the Northeast is changing. Can disruption achieve what an army once threatened—and is the country prepared for a crisis without a frontline?

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)

An Inspection Is Not an Assurance

Identifying vulnerabilities in a financial institution is the responsibility of those running the institution, not those inspecting it

Rahul Ghosh

PLI at Six: Real Factories, Modest Returns, and a Bill Still Being Written

Production-linked incentives have changed what India makes, but not as much as promised. The next round should learn from the gap

Ganga Narayan Rath and Chirayu Sharma

MPC Preview

RBI Needs More Than a Rate Hike to Tighten Policy

A 25-basis-point hike needs calibrated liquidity absorption to work, with flexible tools taking priority and CRR only as a temporary last resort.

Kanika Pasricha*

Ready to Sign an Interim Deal or Stuck at a Plateau?

The India–US Trade Deal Puzzle: Is an interim pact within reach, or have talks hit their limits? Unclear tariff gains raise questions about the price India should pay.

Ajay Srivastava

Pilgrims, Priests and Pricey Tickets: Faith in a Falling Market

As growth meets its limits, the deeper questions are about confidence, credibility and whether institutions can turn policy intent into lasting economic outcomes.

Phynix

Week in Numbers: Tracking India’s Economic Pulse

Industrial output accelerates to 8% in August, led by manufacturing and power, while fiscal pressures rise as tax collections weaken.

Datametricx

Two Tales of Trade Turnarounds

India’s export revival has produced two unlikely reversals: refined petroleum flowing to Russia and Gujarat Hilsa finding its way to Bangladesh.

Michael Debabrata Patra

Masterclass with Michael Patra

The Pipes: Monetary Policy Transmission

Setting the repo rate is only the start. Michael Patra explains how monetary policy reaches the economy, and what gets lost along the way.

Michael Debabrata Patra

The Climate Action Paradox: Why Catastrophe Has Not Produced Transformation

Wars, pandemics and financial crises have forced sweeping change. Why has climate catastrophe struggled to do the same—and what would it take to break the pattern?

Arvind Mayaram

Stocks Slide, but the Government’s Tax Take Keeps Rising

Seven weeks of losses revive calls to rethink STT and capital gains tax, exposing the strain in India’s equity tax bargain.

Ujval Nanavati

Normal Bond Yields, Abnormal Debt

Bond yields may be returning to old levels, but far higher debt burdens give governments powerful reasons to keep real returns suppressed.

Sanjay Mansabdar

Three Years to Build a Global Bank?

HDFC Bank’s three-year CEO appointment raises a larger governance question: should regulators determine who is fit to run a bank, or also shape how long its board can retain that person?

R. Gurumurthy

Court Unquote

SC Comments on Drug Pricing, EY in Top Court, Suo Moto Case on Rising Rape Cases and More

Your weekly rundown of significant judicial rulings and legal battles influencing policy, companies, regulation, and governance

BasisPoint Insight

Bank Credit Growth Outpaces Deposits, But Gap Remains Unsteadily

The credit-deposit ratio peaked in June, fell sharply through August and edged up again in September

Abhishek Dey

Tata Sons Tests the Limits of Shareholder Control

A disputed chairman’s appointment has exposed a harder question than who gets the job. Can Tata Sons’ rules settle a consequential decision when its board and majority shareholder disagree?

Krishnadevan V

When Regulators Become a Source of the Uncertainty they Seek to Reduce

Regulators must act against genuine risk, but frequent rule changes can unsettle markets. Credibility rests on restraint as much as intervention.

R. Gurumurthy

Opinion

IRDAI, Insurance Companies and the Hunt for New Bakras

IRDAI wants to curb front-loaded commissions and mis-selling, but entrenched distribution incentives may simply shift rather than disappear under the new rules.

Vivek Kaul

The Cost That Falls Either Way: How India Should Deploy Its Liquidity Surplus

India’s FCNR-driven liquidity surplus leaves the RBI deciding where sterilisation costs should fall, even as banks face growing incentives to move excess reserves into credit.

Anil Katia

What Household Surveys Reveal About India’s Growth Disconnect

RBI consumer surveys suggest the gap between reported growth and household experience is being driven less by inflation than by concerns over jobs and economic conditions.

Deepa Vasudevan

Geopolitics

Indian Diplomacy in Crisis Mode

India’s strategic autonomy is under growing strain as Washington’s renewed engagement with Pakistan, pressure over Russian oil and the deepening US-China rivalry complicate its choices.

Rajesh Ramachandran

Bond Markets Enter the MPC With More Than the Next Rate Hike at Stake

Carry losses, divergent rate expectations and supply pressures leave bond investors weighing more than the next repo move ahead of the MPC.

Yield Scribe

Audit the FTAs

An FTA gives away tariff revenue and policy space in return for market access, investment and exports. India should publish the balance sheet of every such bargain, measure what it delivered and learn from it before negotiating the next one.

Srinath Sridharan

Arjun Raghavendra M.

The Twin Liquidity Deficits and India’s Equity Market

India’s secondary market is under stress as investors are choosing short-term gains in IPOs over long-term investments in listed stocks.

Chokkalingam G

Let NSE (and BSE) Self-List with the Right Framework

SEBI is right about the potential conflict of interest, but the answer should be to regulate it rather than eliminate it.

R. Sridharan

India Inc’s Next Red Flag May Not Be Debt, It May Be Unpaid Invoices

Receivables that outpace sales can expose the cash demands behind rapid growth, well before rising debt attracts investors’ attention.

Ritesh Kumar Singh

India’s Credit Boom Needs a Stronger Link to Investment and Employment

India’s credit surge needs to translate into productive assets and lasting jobs, not merely larger loan books and higher collateral values.

Kalluru Siva Reddy

Chinmay Joshi

Rahul Has Covered a Lot of Ground, but Congress Still Has Catching Up to Do

Rahul Gandhi has travelled far from the days of being written off. But between becoming the face of the opposition and taking Congress back to power lies a different test.

Amitabh Tiwari