The fiscal response in India to deal with the contagion from the global crisis during 2008-10 was driven by the need to arrest a major slowdown in economic growth. However, there could be medium-term risks to the future inflation path, in the absence of timely fiscal consolidation. As highlighted in the paper, fiscal deficit could be seen to influence the inflation process through either growth of base money or higher aggregate demand. Empirical estimates over the sample period 1953-2009 suggest that one percentage point increase in the level of the fiscal deficit could cause about a quarter of a percentage point increase in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI). The paper emphasises that the importance of fiscal space in the India specific context needs to be seen in terms of not only the usual output stabilisation role of fiscal policy but also the need for use of fiscal measures to contain inflationary pressures that often arise from temporary but large supply shocks.• JEL Classification: E31, H62, H63•

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The dynamic interactions between monetary policy and asset prices have conventionally been examined in terms of the asset price channel of transmission of monetary policy, given the pre-crisis analytical consensus against the use of monetary policy to respond directly to asset price inflation. In the post sub-prime crisis period, however, there has been an overwhelming intellectual support for revisiting the issue of whether monetary policy should become more sensitive to asset price trends and respond proactively to prevent any build up of bubbles. In the Indian context, this paper provides empirical evidence to explain the relevance of a policy of no direct use of the interest rate instrument for stabilising asset price cycles. While the asset price channel of monetary policy is clearly visible in empirical estimates, there is no evidence of monetary policy responding to asset price developments directly. Asset price changes also do not seem to influence the inflation path, as per the impulse response analysis in a structural VAR model. This suggests why monetary policy may continue to refrain from responding directly to asset price cycles. Credit market shocks, however, explain significant

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