Jayanth R Varma asserts that the current policy rate of 6.5% establishes a real rate of 2%, which he views as too high to drive projected inflation down to the 4% target.
Nirmala Sitharaman was responding to a question on India's growth rate of 7%, which the former central banker had said wasn't enough and that the country should be really aiming for "9 to 10% growth."
The government’s budget avoided populist spending measures before the election and projected a sharper-than-expected cut to the budget deficit to 5.1% of gross domestic product.