The Prime Minister has called for new thinking on Reserve Bank's monetary policy. Amid debates over RBI's tight money policy affecting growth, Dr.Manmohan Singh favoured revisiting the possibilities and limitations of the monetary policy in a globalised and fiscally constrained economy. But, he firmly ruled out reversal of globalization of Indian economy or India witnessing a repeat of the 1991 balance of payments crisis.

He was releasing the fourth volume of “RBI History-Looking Back and Looking Ahead ” in New Delhi today. Dr.Singh said fresh thinking is also called for in the area of macro-economic policy making, targets and instruments. He expressed the hope that future Governors, including Governor-designate Raghuram Rajan, will attempt to revisit some of these areas.

Speaking to reporters Dr.Manmohan Singh Dr. Manmohan Singh said in 1991 the country had foreign exchange reserves for only fifteen days. But, now the nation has reserves of six to seven months. So there is no comparison and no question of going back to 1991 crisis.

About the volatile rupee value in the market he said at that time foreign exchange in India was a fixed rate. But, now it is linked to market and therefore the volatility of the rupee is only corrected. He admitted that the Current Account Deficit is still high. He said the high imports of gold is one of the major factors contributing to it. Dr. Singh also said, people seem to be investing a lot in unproductive assets.

Dr. Singh lauded the RBI's role in shaping the country's monetary policy. He said, the Apex bank has served the nation with great distinction and the best is yet to come.

RBI Governor D Subbarao rejected as unfair criticism that the central bank was obsessed with inflation ignoring growth. He termed as oversimplification that governments are for growth and central banks are for price stability. Subbarao will demit office on September 4.