The Reserve Bank's decision to hike repo rate by 25 basis points was on expected lines but the policy focuses more on inflation despite the recent moderation in the number, bankers said on Wednesday. "Repo hike of 25 basis points is on the expected lines. Evidently, the policy is focused more on managing inflation, even though the recent retail inflation readings are showing signs of moderation," industry lobby Indian Banks Association's Chairman A K Goel, who also heads state-owned Punjab National Bank, said in a statement. It can be noted that the last two readings of the headline inflation have come within the upper tolerance band of the central bank and some analysts, including in-house economists at the country's largest lender SBI were expecting a pause on rate hike. With the latest hike, the repo rate is at 6.50 per cent. SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara said the continuing strength in US job data has made monetary policy making into a delicate balancing act for emerging economies
RBI MPC: Shaktikanta Das said that the repo rate hike of 25 bps is considered appropriate at this juncture but the monetary policy will remain agile to inflation
RBI monetary policy: In December, Das had said that despite consecutive rate hikes, core inflation had continued to remain 'sticky'
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Will there be a convergence or divergence among the members of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on the 25 basis points (bps) policy rate hike, experts debate.
Economists at SBI on Monday said they expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hit the pause button on interest rate hike at its upcoming monetary policy review this week. The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the six-member rate setting panel, is likely to continue with the current 'withdrawal of accommodation' stance, the SBI economists said. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das-headed MPC started its three-day meeting on Monday and it will announce the decision on Wednesday. "Even though RBI could pause as it allows past rate actions to work with long and variable lags, the RBI could still guide the markets with a rate action in future that will be purely data dependent," the note said. Expecting headline inflation to decline closer to 5 per cent by March 2023 and further to 4.2 per cent in April, the economists said they expect a pause from the RBI at the next policy announcement and the present repo rate of 6.25 per cent will be the terminal rate. With the headline ...
Overall conditions call for another rate hike
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das-headed Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) started its three-day meeting on Monday amid expectations of a smaller 25 basis points rate increase or a pause on the rate hiking spree that started in May last year to check inflation. The decision of the six-member rate setting panel will be announced by the Governor on Wednesday. With retail inflation showing signs of moderation and remaining below the Reserve Bank of India's 6 per cent upper tolerance level, and projected slowdown in GDP growth in the next fiscal starting April, experts are of the opinion that the central bank may only opt for a 25 basis points hike in the key interest rate. Another opinion is that the RBI may press the pause button on rate hike on Wednesday itself. "We expect the RBI to pause in February policy," State Bank of India's Economic Research Department said in a report titled 'Prelude to MPC Meeting on Feb 6-8, 2023'. In the current rate cycle, it said that rate actions, both hike
MPC could signal pause in rate hikes going ahead as inflation eases
25 bps raise likely in Feb, before RBI hits status quo button, feel experts
The government should not go in for an 'aggressive fiscal consolidation' in the upcoming budget as global risks have not abated, RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Member Ashima Goyal said on Wednesday. Goyal further said subsidies are expected to come down as food and energy inflation moderates. WPI inflation in food articles in November was 1.07 per cent against 8.33 per cent in the previous month. In the 'fuel and power' basket, inflation was 17.35 per cent last month. "Given fears of a global slowdown, this is not the time for aggressive consolidation. Sticking to small pre-announced steps on the path will minimise growth sacrifice, while moderating demand and the current account deficit, thus lowering the risk premium that keeps spreads high and raises the cost of government and private borrowing," she told PTI. India's fiscal deficit, the gap between expenditure and revenue, is projected to come down to 6.4 per cent in current fiscal ending March 2023, from 6.71 per cent in .
In a Q&A, she says the majority opinion is that the country has handled the turbulence well and can do so again, though the probability is low in the immediate future
While two of the eminent panelists - Ghosh and Nayar - said they expect a pause in the monetary cycle by the MPC, Chakraborty, Sagar, and Kapoor said the MPC could still hike by 25-50 basis points
MPC minutes show Das saying that in a tightening cycle, especially in a world of high uncertainty, giving out explicit forward guidance on the future path of monetary policy would be counterproductive
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MPC is said to have failed to achieve inflation target if average CPI inflation falls outside 2-6% range for three straight quarters. This was the case in the three quarters from Jan to Sept of 2022
The key takeaway from the governor's 3,000-word statement is 'the battle against inflation is not over'
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Some expect a slight reduction in GDP growth forecast
Core inflation is calculated by largely stripping away the volatile components of food and fuel. Goyal was referring to certain products that have linkages with oil prices