'RBI rate hike was moderate as CRR was also raised': Ashima Goyal

Monetary policy committee says decision to cut repo rate was at the correct time.

Ashima Goyal, a member of the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee (MPC), has said the withdrawal of the ultra-accommodative monetary policy will continue though its pace will depend on data. In a surprise move two weeks ago, the MPC met unscheduled and decided to increase the repo rate by 40 bps to 4.4 per cent. It also hiked the Cash Reserve Ratio by 50 bps to 4.5 per cent.

What follows is an edited e-mail interview Goyal gave to Manojit Saha.

In the minutes (of MPC’s meeting) you said, “In view of a reasonable recovery and the sharp