India, Oct. 2 -- The die-hard optimists hoped for a miracle. The realists argued for a status quo. So, when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) met on the eve of Dussehra, it did what the realists had said for weeks. The repo rate remains unchanged at 5.5 per cent. The announcement was dubbed as "pause," "dovish approach," "acknowledgement of risks," and "space for further easing." The optimism remains, even as there is a realisation that the economy is still rocking on unstable ground.

Retail inflation is below the orange-flag level of four per cent, and way below the red-flag level of six per cent. More importantly, the projected rate is graded downwards, from 3.1 per cent to 2.6 per cent for 2025-26. The post-Covid era of high inflation s...