Monetary policy review: More downside risks for GVA growth

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s bi-monthly monetary policy unfolded few disappointments. Apart from keeping the rates on hold, the apex bank also reduced its FY17 gross value added or GVA growth estimate for the second time in a row. In December last year, RBI had brought down this metric by 50 basis points from 7.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent while stating that demonetisation had contributed about 15 basis points to this downgrade. On Wednesday, it revised the GVA growth number by another 20 basis points to 6.9 per cent. While RBI did not specify how much of