The Economist, BBC Journos Not Allowed into RBI Press Conference

Speculation revolved around a recent article in ‘The Economist’ which was critical of the demonetisation policy.

The Reserve Bank of India seal. (Photo: Reuters)

The Economist magazine’s correspondent in Mumbai, Stanley Pignal, was denied entry to an important RBI policy press conference today, according to his Twitter account.

Speculation revolved around a recent article that was published in The Economist which happened to be extremely critical of the Modi government’s demonetisation policy. But Stanley Pignal also tweeted that the RBI spokeswoman said that the magazine’s critical coverage had nothing to do with the decision to exclude him.

Apart from The Economist, BBC World Service was also not allowed to attend the press conference.

The decision to disallow certain media organisations from attending sparked a debate about whether the RBI was responding to critical coverage of the demonetisation move. Stanley Pignal also tweeted along similar lines.