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Sarthak Gulati of RBI accused SBI’s Ecowrap reports of replicating RBI’s Monetary Policy Reports, sparking a debate. SBI’s Dr. Tapas Parida defended the research and methodology.
News18
An RBI member post questioning the research ethics and alleging plagiarism has triggered a debate online in India’s economic and financial community. It happened after Sarthak Gulati, an officer at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and alumnus of Columbia University, alleged that State Bank of India’s (SBI) Ecowrap reports have replicated sections of RBI’s Monetary Policy Reports (MPRs) without attribution.
Gulati Raises Plagiarism Concerns
In a LinkedIn post, Gulati said that SBI’s July 2025 Ecowrap “replicates large parts of Chapter 2: Price and Cost from the RBI’s April 2025 MPR — paragraph-by-paragraph, including key charts and narratives.” He added that the October 2025 Ecowrap also “mirrors language and structure from the RBI’s October 2025 MPR.”
Gulati, who described the issue as “deeply concerning,” cited cases where even boxed research items from RBI’s MPR — often containing original analysis — appeared in Ecowrap without credit, including one on spatial price convergence. He said such practices “undermine the value of original institutional research” and violate research ethics, stressing that “readers deserve clarity on where the ideas they’re reading actually come from.”
SBI Economist Responds
Responding on LinkedIn, Dr. Tapas Parida, Economist at SBI’s Corporate Centre, called the accusations “select social media rants” that overlook the “circular nature of research.” He argued that overlapping findings are common because multiple institutions often use similar data and concepts, adding that SBI’s analysis used a shorter, updated dataset to study β-convergence and had “a distinct methodology.”
Parida said, “While the Central Bank’s research on spatial convergence is undoubtedly more exhaustive, our work focused on more recent data to understand the inflation trend.” He maintained that SBI duly acknowledged the RBI in its tables and reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to research integrity.
Quoting Rumi, Parida concluded, “Raise your words, not voice. It is the rain that grows flowers, not thunder,” stressing that SBI Research “stands for teamwork and fair debate, not self-promotion.”
Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst…Read More
Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst… Read More
October 25, 2025, 15:01 IST
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