RBI should pause, think about decoupling from Fed: Soumya Kanti Ghosh

The RBI should “pause and think” if it can continue mirroring the US Federal Reserve “stroke by stroke” in terms of rate hikes or decouple from the American central bank, SBI group chief economic adviser Soumya Kanti Ghosh said.

Ghosh said he does not see an end to the rate hike cycle of the Fed in the short-term, which makes a case for the RBI to contemplate about decoupling.

“My point is can we match the Fed stroke by stroke? At some point of time we need to pause and think whether the impact of the earlier rate hikes (by the RBI) has percolated down into the system… I dont see any end to the Feds cycle soon, it could be three or more rate hikes going ahead,” Ghosh said.

He was speaking at a session organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here.

In January 2023, the countrys inflation jumped up to 6.52 per cent, above the RBIs tolerance level of 6 percent. This came after inflation remaining above 6 per cent for 10 out of twelve months in 2022. Most economists believe that the RBI will hike rates to soften inflation, which in recent times has been spurred by food prices.

The US Federal Reserve has also been raising rates and has actually been more aggressive than the RBI, raising policy rates by 4.5 per cent since March 1, last year.

“If you look into the 2008 cycle, you will see that central banks raised rates in unison but when they cut rates, they did so based on country-specific factors… The RBI needs to think if we can decouple from the Fed or see if we are keeping pace with them,” Ghosh told

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