Need to guard against risks of currency appreciation: RBI MPC member Kumar

Says expanding the manufacturing sector could also help in containing inflationary pressures by enhancing the supply capacity

Nagesh Kumar, member of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) monetary policy committee (MPC), in an email interview with Manojit Saha, said that deceleration of the manufacturing sector was the reason why he voted for a 25 basis points (bps) policy repo rate cut in the December review. Edited excerpts:

 

You had voted for a reduction in the repo rate of 25 bps points during the December policy review. What was the rationale?

 

I believe that the growth slowdown in Q2 of 2024-25 to just 5.4 per cent from 6.7 per cent was serious because it largely reflected a slowdown