Duvvuri Subbarao on India’s Growth, Inflation Targeting and Centre–State Faultlines

In this episode of Market Makers on BasisPoint Insight, Manoj Rane continues his conversation with Duvvuri Subbarao, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, turning to India’s macroeconomic trajectory and long-term policy choices.

Subbarao examines whether India has genuinely shifted to a structurally higher growth path, or whether the current resilience masks deeper weaknesses in job creation, consumption, manufacturing and exports. He discusses why headline GDP numbers can be reassuring yet incomplete, and explains the risks of jobless growth in a services-led economy.

The discussion also covers inflation targeting, why Subbarao was initially sceptical of the framework, how his views evolved after the global financial crisis, and the constraints monetary policy faces in an economy prone to supply shocks.

Subbarao reflects on the enduring tensions between North Block and Mint Street, fiscal consolidation after COVID, and the growing Centre–state and North–South faultlines in India’s federal system, including concerns around transfers, demographics and political economy.

A wide-ranging conversation on growth, monetary frameworks and the institutional trade-offs shaping India’s economic future.