SBI vs RBI: RBI Economist Accuses SBI of Copying Research Report

Recently, a senior official from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has accused economists at the State Bank of India (SBI) of copying content from RBI’s reports. Sarthak Gulati, an economist in RBI’s Monetary Policy Department and an Assistant General Manager, posted a detailed note on LinkedIn. In his post, he said that professionals in the field of finance and economics must follow principles of originality, proper attribution, and integrity in their research. He stated that some parts of RBI’s Monetary Policy Reports (MPRs) had been copied word-for-word in recent SBI Ecowrap reports without giving credit to the RBI.

The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) Monetary Policy Report (MPR) is released twice a year — that is, once every six months. SBI regularly uploads economic reports in its ECOWRAP Research Report.

Gulati claimed that SBI’s Ecowrap reports included paragraphs, charts, and explanations taken directly from the RBI’s April Monetary Policy Report. He also said that the October edition of SBI’s Ecowrap report “mirrors the language and structure” of the October RBI report. To support his claims, he shared screenshots comparing both documents.

SBI’s Ecowrap reports are prepared by a research team led by Soumya Kanti Ghosh, the bank’s Chief Economic Advisor, who also serves on the 16th Finance Commission and the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.

In response, SBI issued a strong statement, calling the plagiarism allegations “sad and sensationalized.” A day later, Tapas Parida, a member of the Ecowrap research team, also shared a post on LinkedIn defending their work. He said that the methods and equations used by SBI were completely different from those used by the RBI and reflected original research.

Parida added that while the RBI’s study on spatial convergence was more detailed, SBI’s research used newer data to analyze inflation trends. He also mentioned that the RBI was properly acknowledged in their reports and that SBI remained committed to research ethics and transparency.

Quoting the Persian poet Rumi, Parida wrote, “Raise your words, not voice. It is the rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” He emphasized that SBI Research believes in teamwork, fair debate, and professional integrity, not self-promotion.