RBI, SBI Economists Clash Over Plagiarism Allegations
A senior economist from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) publicly accused researchers at the State Bank of India (SBI) of copying large portions of the Central Bank’s reports in a LinkedIn post. The RBI economist claimed that several paragraphs, graphs and data tables in SBI’s Ecowrap economic publication mirrored chapters from the RBI’s Monetary Policy Reports without proper attribution.
Institutions Respond Optimistically
While the RBI has not issued an official public reaction, SBI has responded through one of its senior researchers, rejecting the allegations of plagiarism. SBI said that all data in question was sourced from publicly available government statistics and that the similarities in presentation were coincidental and accompanied by appropriate acknowledgments in their November IT version of the report.
Broader Implications for Research Integrity
The incident has triggered debate in India’s economic community about research ethics and institutional transparency. It highlights how professionals from leading financial institutions are now using social media platforms to challenge each other. Analysts say this could raise questions about how economic data and institutional commentary are referenced and shared by regulatory and banking organisations.
