SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Institutions: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) | Ministry of Finance
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its October 2025 Bulletin, featuring five articles analyzing the state of the economy and key financial sector trends. The Indian economy displayed resilience amidst broader global uncertainty and weak external demand, driven by a revival in urban demand and robust rural demand, coupled with a sharp moderation in headline CPI inflation in September.
The article “Resilience and Revival: India’s Private Corporate Sector” detailed the corporate sector’s robust rebound post-pandemic. Net profits for non-financial companies surged to ₹7.1 trillion in 2024-25 (up from ₹2.5 trillion in 2020-21), with the net profit margin improving to 10.3 percent. This performance was supported by strong deleveraging, leading to a robust debt-servicing capacity, particularly reflected in the manufacturing sector’s interest coverage ratio reaching 7.7.
The third article, “Fundraising by Indian Small and Medium Enterprises through IPO”, noted a sharp surge in SME IPO activity during FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25, driven by strong retail participation and market buoyancy. While proceeds were largely used for capital enhancement and working capital, the paper cautioned that post-listing performances revealed both opportunities and risks for investors.
The article “Compliance to Confidence: A Data Quality Model for Central Banks” addressed the challenge of ensuring data quality from regulated entities. It presented an approach for constructing a Data Quality Index (DQI) using eight dimensions to monitor and systematically improve the quality of regulatory, supervisory, and statistical data submitted to the central bank.
Finally, “Steel Under Siege: Understanding the Impact of Dumping on India” warned that India’s steel sector faced significant headwinds due to cheap imports and dumping from major global producers. This surge in lower-priced imports adversely impacted domestic production, underscoring the risk to the industry which can only be mitigated through suitable policy measures like safeguard duties.
The RBI Bulletin provides crucial economic intelligence that simultaneously confirms the success of policy interventions in creating robust corporate balance sheets post-pandemic, while signaling an urgent need for protective trade policies to shield domestic core industries like steel from global price manipulation.
What is Dumping in the context of trade and steel?→ Dumping is an unfair trade practice where an exporting country sells goods in an importing country’s market at a price that is lower than what it costs to produce or sell them in the domestic market of the exporting country. In the context of steel, this surge of cheap imports can pose a significant risk to domestic production by undercutting local prices, necessitating policy measures like safeguard duties to mitigate the adverse impact.
What is a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) IPO?→ An SME IPO (Small and Medium Enterprise Initial Public Offering) is the process by which a small or medium-sized company raises funds from the public for the first time by issuing shares on a dedicated stock exchange platform. Since SMEs are crucial for economic growth but often face difficulty securing formal finance, these dedicated IPO platforms offer a vital channel to access public investment, supported by strong retail participation and market buoyancy.
What is a Data Quality Index (DQI) in central banking?→ A Data Quality Index (DQI) is a systematic tool developed by a central bank (like the RBI) to monitor and numerically evaluate the reliability and quality of financial data submitted by regulated entities (like banks). The DQI uses a structured framework across eight data quality dimensions to ensure the collected data is accurate and trustworthy. Improving the DQI enhances the central bank’s institutional credibility and the efficiency of its supervisory functions.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: Beyond imposing safeguard duties, what specific incentives will the Ministry of Steel implement to boost the domestic price competitiveness of locally produced steel?
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