Record debt, recovery support to keep rate hikes by RBI in slow lane

The key takeaway from Governor Shaktikanta Das's address on Thursday will be how the RBI plans to support the government's record $200 billion borrowing

India’s central bank is set to stick with baby steps to policy normalization, as it is seized by the need to anchor borrowing costs for the government in addition to supporting a durable recovery in Asia’s third-largest economy. 

Those objectives will likely make the benchmark interest-rate a sideshow at this week’s monetary policy review, which is due Thursday. The Reserve Bank of India will instead likely raise the reverse repurchase rate to cut down inflation-inducing liquidity in the banking system -- a signal that it’s committed to return policy to pre-pandemic settings. 

But the key takeaway from Governor Shaktikanta Das’s