RBI policy stand is 'stubborn': Realty industry body

RBI today left the short-term lending rate to banks, and the cash reserve ratio unchanged

The real estate industry body CREDAI today said the Reserve Bank has been taking "stubborn" stand in not reducing the key interest rates and reiterated that funds should be made available to builders and home buyers at affordable rates.

"It is sad and unfortunate to see RBI taking such a stubborn stand, despite economic realities of the day," CREDAI national president Lalit Kumar Jain said in a statement.

RBI today left the short-term lending (repo) rate to banks, and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) -- the amount of deposits banks have to park with RBI-- unchanged.

CREDAI termed the status quo in RBI's monetary policy review as "arbitrary" and "anti-growth" and sought that the stakeholders should be consulted before taking policy decisions.

"We wonder if the RBI policy of causing liquidity crunch leading to short supply and resultant price rise is good for the economy or increasing liquidity and pushing supply to bring prices under control is better," Jain observed.

CREDAI said it has been demanding that developers as well as  home buyers get loans at affordable and reasonable rates of interest, but somehow the RBI does not seem to realise the need for encouraging the real estate sector.

"We hope that the RBI and other policy makers will soon realise the fact that the capital intensive real estate and construction industry is the largest employer after agriculture and contributes handsomely to GDP. We cannot expect economic growth without pushing the real estate sector," it added.