A Fly on the RBI Wall: An Insider’s View of the Central Bank

When Alpana Killawala joined the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Bank’s communication department was in its nascent stage. ‘Evolution of communication function in the Reserve Bank of India is in a way Alpana’s story’, remarked one of the then executive directors of the central bank. Over the course of a career spanning more than two decades, she skilfully navigated the challenges of managing the central bank’s communication, including handling communication during some of the major crises, such as the Harshad Mehta scam, and reforms like the liberalization of the Indian economy in the 1990s. A Fly on the RBI Wall is a repository of anecdotes from Alpana’s time at the RBI—a no-holds-barred account of her journey at the nation’s central bank. She doesn’t hesitate to call out her limitations or the institution’s, but also never forgets to give credit where it is due. At one level, the book talks about the RBI as an institution and how it evolved in the last 25 years as India undertook its journey into economic and trade reforms. At another level, she gives a peek into the minds of the governors, all eminent scholars, under whom she worked. Students of communication can glean valuable lessons from Alpana’s narrative.