Economic Performance Indicators Under Different Monetary Policy Frameworks: Evidence from India

Monetary policy has been formulated with the purpose of achieving the twin objectives of economic growth and price stability through the successful working of the transmission mechanism. Monetary policy-induced changes in the nominal variables are expected to impact the real economic indicators like GDP and inflation. The evolution of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy has been divided into four distinct frameworks: pre-monetary targeting, monetary targeting, multiple indicator approach and eventually an inflation-targeting framework since 2015. RBI's monetary policy strategies have undergone substantial transformation in the last 70 years. The success of each monetary policy framework can be assessed by comparing the impact of monetary policy changes on various economic performance indicators. The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of economic indicators under different monetary policy frameworks in the postindependence period. The economic performance indicators used in the study are inflation and output gap. Analyzing the monthly data from April 1982 to March 2017, the study finds that the multiple-indicator and the inflation-targeting regimes have had most success in balancing the twin objectives of growth and inflation.