In Tuesday’s quarterly monetary policy review, India’s central bank governor Raghuram Rajan surprised investors and economists by increasing the bank’s key lending rate, and called itself an owl. What have birds of prey got to do with the Reserve Bank of India ? Economists and analysts often refer to monetary policy as either hawk-like or dove-like, in their jargon. A monetary policy that’s focused on raising interest rates to curb inflation is thought of as hawkish. Higher rates makes it difficult for companies to borrow money and can stymie economic growth. Ever since taking over as governor of the RBI  in ... (full story)