Good morning to you all! In the Indian tradition, Namaskar, which means I salute the divinity in you. It is always fulfilling to be here at the Annual Central Banking Seminar of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Over the years the seminar has become a landmark forum for the intermingling and cross-fertilisation of ideas and experiences among central bankers from all over the world. It is no wonder, therefore, that it has come to be regarded as a favoured stamping ground where practitioners of the profession rub shoulders and learn from each other about the ‘soiling of the hands’ in topically relevant issues in central banking.

Good Morning to you all! I am delighted to be here again at the prestigious Annual Central Banking Seminar, a flagship event of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for which it has earned global renown. It is truly an honour to interact with central bankers from around the world, our community of tomorrow. You embody the theme of India’s G20 Presidency – Vasudhaivya Kutumbakam: the world is one family. 

The Climate is Striking Back

In my past interactions in this Seminar, I have dwelled on macroeconomic stability; price stability; exchange rate stability; financial stability – all essentially issues centered around the core competence of conservative central bankers from which we are reluctant to stray. After all, central banks stand for stability.

I. Introduction Good evening! I welcome you all to the sixth Asia KLEMS Conference, to India and to the Reserve Bank of India, henceforth RBI. We are honoured to host this conference in physical mode after the arduous isolation imposed by the pandemic. The hill town of Lonavala, an ancient resting place for travellers and traders, is nestled in India’s soon-to-be monsoon-drenched western ghats – a chain of mountains running 30 to 50 km inland parallel to India’s west

Good afternoon and a warm welcome to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) central bank colleagues participating in this first physical seminar under the aegis of SAARCFINANCE after the onset of the pandemic. Greetings to Ms. Dechen Pelzom, Executive Director, Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan. We are delighted to have with us colleagues from the Ministry of Finance, and virtual participants from our central banks, the Bank for International Settle

Dr. Hrudananda Panda, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Bhubaneswar, distinguished guests of the RBI from the Government of Odisha, academia, banks, financial institutions, industry associations, the media, scholars and students, my colleagues from the RBI, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am deeply honoured to be invited to deliver this address as part of the celebration of the 75th year of our Independence. I thank Dr. Panda for inviting me and more than that,

BRICS: FROM ACRONYM TO GLOBAL ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE1 Professor Pami Dua, Director, Delhi School of Economics, Prof. Yogesh Singh, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi, Prof. Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi Centre, Prof. Chetan Ghate, Indian Statistical Institute, distinguished invitees and conference participants, I am honoured to be invited to deliver the inaugural keynote address for the conference on ‘Growth and Development in