Heena Sharma Blog

Addressing the media for the second time since the Narendra Modi government imposed a national lockdown on March 25, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced a reduction in reverse repo rate by 25 basis points from 4 per cent earlier to 3.75 per cent now. The reduction in reverse repo rate is one of a slew of announcements made by the RBI governor today. This was his first address since the lockdown was extended till May 3 by the Prime Minister. "The mission is to minimise the epidemiological damage in the country due to coronavirus. I want to convey the RBI's resolve and the way forward," said the RBI governor. Read More

A rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was much expected this time and the Governor did not disappoint. The aggressive cut of 75 basis points (bps) in the repo rate is commendable, as it provides the balm required to revive the economy. This is evidently meant to counter the negative impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic . Governor Shaktikanta Das was very prudent in not giving a forecast for growth or inflation because, as he rightly stated, with things changing so fast, it is not certain how long the threat will last and how its spread and depth will impact the economy. Therefore, the policy is directed towards the immediate problem of mitigating the damage caused by the virus. The RBI has decided to use a novel way to influence interest rates. The repo rate has come down to 4.4 per cent, while the reverse repo rate is now 4 per cent with a difference of 40 bps. The idea is to ensure that banks do not deposit surpluses in the reverse repo auctions, which is av...

Defending the timing of YES Bank 's moratorium, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday assured swift resolution to the issues concerning the beleaguered lender. “ The resolution will be done very swiftly, it will be done very fast. 30 days which we have given is the outer limit. You will see a very swift action from RBI,” told reporters after ASSOCHAM's 15th annual banking summit. "The decision is taken at a larger level, not at individual entity level, the move is aimed at ensuring safety of financial system," he added On the timing of the action on YES Bank, Das said there is always debate over RBI acting prematurely or taking too long to act. “ A market-led and bank-led resolution of the problem is always preferable. You have to give time to the bank management to take step and efforts. And the bank did take efforts. When we found that we cannot wait and should not wait any longer, we decided to intervene," Das added. Read...

It was widely expected that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would cut interest rates on Friday for two reasons. The first is that by now it has become a habit where low growth tendencies, which have taken precedence over the original goal of inflation targeting gets thumbs-up for a rate cut. The second is that over the last month or so, the government has announced various steps to revive the economy with the last measure being the corporate tax cut. A rate cut after all these announcements appeared to be a foregone decision. The point of interest, however, was the quantum of the cut. The last time the Governor went in for 35 basis point (bps) cut, which was non-conventional and had popped up the choice between 25 bps and something more this time around. The RBI has settled for 25 bps this time. Given that the 110 bps rate cut so far has not quite led to the uptick in investment, one can look upon the series of rate cuts as being work in progress to lower the cost of capital ...