State Bond Glut is Breaking Monetary Transmission

Excess supply of state government bonds is distorting markets, widening spreads, and choking the Reserve Bank’s monetary transmission.

Yield Scribe

September 3, 2025 at 7:40 AM IST

Book Review

God Laughs, Markets Listen, and the Reddyisms that Still Resonate

From wit and ambiguity to humility and integrity, YV Reddy’s new book shows why values matter more than plans in an uncertain world.

Kalyan Ram

August 31, 2025 at 4:45 AM IST

Open Mouths, Open Markets, and RBI’s Signalling Gap

The RBI’s June gamble of frontloaded easing and a sudden neutral stance has backfired, raising borrowing costs. Governor Malhotra now needs both words and deeds.

BasisPoint Groupthink

August 27, 2025 at 6:45 AM IST

RBI

India’s Banks Need a New Business Model Before Liquidity Risks Bite Harder

Deposit growth is slowing, liquidity risks are rising, and RBI rules are shifting. India’s banks must rewire their business models before the next shock.

K. Srinivasa Rao

August 14, 2025 at 7:30 AM IST

iStock.com/lakshmiprasad S

The RBI’s Curious Attachment to a Benchmark That Hardly Trades

The RBI’s liquidity panel sticks with WACR as its policy anchor, even though the market it reflects is shrinking fast. Reform? Or regulatory nostalgia?

R. Gurumurthy

August 8, 2025 at 6:43 AM IST

Monetary Policy

RBI’s Growth Hopes Mask Limits of Policy Easing

The RBI’s optimism on growth belies structural weaknesses and hints that the impact of front-loaded rate cuts may already be waning.

Dhananjay Sinha

August 6, 2025 at 2:14 PM IST

Poonam Gupta

Monetary Policy

RBI Panel Recommends Retaining Weighted Average Call Rate as Policy Anchor

RBI’s internal group recommends retaining the weighted average call rate as the policy anchor, citing its strong correlation with money market rates and effective signal transmission.

BasisPoint Insight

August 6, 2025 at 7:15 AM IST

RBI Expected to Pause, but Weak Data Opens Door to Further Cuts

The MPC is expected to hold rates steady, but easing bias remains amid low inflation, moderating growth, and risks from US tariffs.

BasisPoint Insight

August 4, 2025 at 12:13 PM IST

Monetary Policy

RBI Unlikely to Cut Repo Rate as Focus Turns to Credit Transmission

With inflation cooling and liquidity ample, RBI is set to hold rates and wait for credit transmission before fresh policy moves.

K. Srinivasa Rao

August 4, 2025 at 3:44 AM IST

RBI Steps in With ₹500 Billion VRR as Call Rate Hits Corridor Ceiling

BasisPoint Insight

July 23, 2025 at 8:01 AM IST

India’s Recovery Plan Is Missing Its Fiscal Half

While the RBI has acted to support growth, the Finance Ministry’s virtual silence since the Budget leaves policy looking oddly one-handed.

Dhananjay Sinha

Kalyan Ram

July 20, 2025 at 6:52 AM IST

Monetary Transmission Is Both Alive And Dead Like Schrödinger’s Cat

Liquidity is plentiful, rates are low, yet credit growth is muted. Monetary transmission in India remains a paradox that defies easy solutions.

Yield Scribe

July 7, 2025 at 5:13 AM IST

iStock.com

Interview

Tata Or Batata? Nilesh Shah Lays Out India’s Market Mindmap

From HFT to FDI, inflation myths to rupee truth, Nilesh Shah maps India’s market future—in metaphors only he can mint.

BasisPoint Insight

June 26, 2025 at 4:29 AM IST

AI Generated

MPC Minutes Reveal Wobbly Logic Behind the Stance Shift

The June MPC minutes show a committee leaning hard into caution, but its reasoning for abandoning the accommodative stance reveals some puzzling dissonance.

BasisPoint Groupthink

June 21, 2025 at 4:23 AM IST

Poonam Gupta

Surplus Transfer: Windfall For Government, Balancing Act For RBI

By transferring a record surplus to the central government and a larger chunk to the risk buffers, the RBI has balanced between supporting fiscal needs and preserving policy credibility.

R. Gurumurthy

June 9, 2025 at 11:19 AM IST

Anurag Vijay/CC

RBI’s Abrupt Policy Shift Risks Undermining Its Own Credibility

Markets do not fear rate cuts or hikes. They fear a central bank that shifts stance and floods the system with liquidity before the economy is ready.

Kalyan Ram

June 6, 2025 at 3:09 PM IST

Screengrab from RBI Press Conference

RBI Pushes For Better Rate Transmission, But Structural Frictions Persist

RBI steps up easing with rate and CRR cuts, but uneven liquidity, sticky bank rates, and cautious lending slow real transmission to the economy.

Richard Fargose

June 6, 2025 at 2:49 PM IST

Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash

Monetary Intent And Content Matter, Not Just The Mic

Authority and influence in central banking are earned through judgement, not decibels.

Srinath Sridharan

June 6, 2025 at 12:47 PM IST

Monetary Policy

RBI Frontloads Hyper Accommodation

The RBI’s frontloaded stimulus lifts markets, but its ability to revive growth is constrained by weak income, tepid investment, and global drag.

Dhananjay Sinha

June 6, 2025 at 10:38 AM IST

iStock.com

Monetary Policy

RBI’s New Dharma: Bold Cuts, Balanced Stance

With its bold cuts in repo rate and CRR, and the shift in stance, the RBI has tried to play its role in pushing growth but has a contingency plan, should things go wrong.

Abheek Barua

June 6, 2025 at 9:49 AM IST

RBI

No Mic For Deputy Governor Gupta In RBI’s Monetary Opera

India’s newest monetary policymaker sat silent through a blockbuster policy. Poonam Gupta’s RBI debut came and went, with barely a word.

BasisPoint Groupthink

June 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM IST

Screengrab of RBI press conference

Monetary Policy

Operation Frontload: RBI Fires All Weapons, Then Calls For Peace

RBI unleashed a surprise rate-and-liquidity barrage, then changed stance to neutral. Was this pre-emption, or a response to unseen threats?

BasisPoint Groupthink

June 6, 2025 at 7:26 AM IST

PIB

Record RBI Dividend Payouts Are A Short-Term Fix With Long-Term Risks

Another likely record dividend to the Centre may offer fiscal relief, but could undermine monetary stability and currency management in an uncertain global climate.

Dhananjay Sinha

May 22, 2025 at 4:02 AM IST

iStock.com

LAF@25: SDF – From A Corridor To A Comfort Zone

Part 2 of our LAF@25 series explores how the Standing Deposit Facility may be steering India’s liquidity corridor towards a de facto floor regime.

R. Gurumurthy

May 20, 2025 at 3:37 AM IST

RBI Need Not Rush To 5% As Liquidity Does The Heavy-Lifting

The RBI has uncoupled its stance from liquidity. That may make aggressive rate cuts less likely, even if monetary conditions stay easy.

BasisPoint Groupthink

May 19, 2025 at 5:56 AM IST

RBI Tweets

LAF@25: The Shifting Core Of India’s Monetary Operations

As the RBI’s Liquidity Adjustment Facility turns 25, this three-part series traces its evolution, limitations, and future as a monetary policy mainstay.

R. Gurumurthy

May 19, 2025 at 5:11 AM IST

iStock.com

LAF, SDF, MSF - Gupta’s Learning Curve Begins With ABCs Of WACR Vs SORR

The new RBI deputy governor takes charge amid a fluid framework and the push to convert surplus liquidity into transmission. It is more than the alphabet soup of acronyms that confronts her.

BasisPoint Groupthink

May 3, 2025 at 4:25 AM IST

Liquidity: Sterilisation, Caution, Or Doubling Down?

FX book chickens come home to roost in 2025-26, and the RBI’s liquidity injections may need to grow even larger to avoid a fresh policy transmission hiccup.

Vivek Kumar

May 1, 2025 at 3:49 AM IST

Is the RBI’s Liquidity Blitz a Signal of Deeper Economic Strain?

An outsized bond purchase plan and aggressive liquidity support hint at a more serious undercurrent: faltering money supply, weak credit momentum, and growth worries.

BasisPoint Groupthink

April 28, 2025 at 4:15 PM IST

Monetary Policy

RBI Must Resist Calls To Reopen The Fixed Rate Repo Window

Calls to revive the fixed repo window are gaining ground. The RBI must resist — or risk undoing a decade of hard-won liquidity discipline.

Basis Pundit

April 7, 2025 at 2:44 PM IST

Rupee Steadies As RBI Fires On All Fronts To Calm FX And Liquidity

The rupee’s slide reversed as RBI stepped in with dollar sales, swap deals, and liquidity tools to restore calm without chasing a fixed exchange rate.

Manoj Rane

April 4, 2025 at 3:38 PM IST

Anurag Vijay/CC

RBI Sharpens Liquidity Playbook With April OMOs to Anchor Yields, Transmission

Bond purchases continue even as liquidity turns surplus, reinforcing RBI's push for smooth rate transmission and economic support.

Richard Fargose

April 2, 2025 at 2:23 AM IST

RBI's Rate Cut Fails To Ease Market Rates Amid Tight Liquidity Grip

Despite easing inflation and a long-awaited rate cut, tight liquidity and weak transmission have kept market rates stubbornly high under RBI’s watch.

Manoj Rane

March 28, 2025 at 5:32 AM IST

Indian Banking System Liquidity Set To Shift From Scarcity To Surplus, Says QuantEco

BasisPoint Insight

March 19, 2025 at 8:59 AM IST

RBI’s Liquidity Blind Spot: Growth Needs A Clearer Policy

The Reserve Bank of India’s liquidity strategy has unsettled markets and heightened economic risks. A decisive shift is needed to safeguard growth just as inflation appears contained.

G. Mahalingam

March 18, 2025 at 6:56 AM IST

Anurag Vijay/CC

RBI Liquidity: Rectitude, Discretion And King Canute

RBI must maintain core liquidity surplus at 0.5%-1.0% of NDTL in FY26 to ensure credit flow. Durable tools over repo reliance key to stability.

Vivek Kumar

March 8, 2025 at 7:22 AM IST

Anurag Vijay/CC

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