All policy planners want low interest rate: Arun Jaitley

RBI is scheduled to come out with its fourth bi-monthly policy review for the fiscal on Sep 29

Pitching for an interest rate cut to boost growth, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said everyone, including policy planners, wants lower rates, but emphasised he would not like to influence Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s decision on the issue.

Asked if the status quo by US Federal Reserve could prompt RBI to cut interest rate, Jaitley said, “RBI is managed very professionally. They look at all the figures and developments, both internal and external environment, and take their own decision”.

RBI is scheduled to come out with its fourth bi-monthly policy review for the financial year on September 29 and with uncertainty getting over with regard to the US Fed rate, the central bank might yield to the pressure of easing rates.

“Any policy planner would like a cheaper cost of capital, but that's not a decision which I would like to influence at this stage because it's a decision which RBI has to take,” Jaitley told TV channels.



RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had earlier said the central bank will be closely watching the decision of the US Federal Reserve.

Earlier in the day, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in New Delhi that there is a "favourable" environment for monetary policy action by RBI.

"We are in a favourable environment now. Obviously, all of these have to be balanced and RBI has to take its decisions," Sinha said.

He added that central banks globally tend to take a data-driven approach towards their monetary policies.

In what could be termed as the most-awaited Fed meeting since the 2008 global credit crisis, the world's most powerful central bank yesterday postponed its intended decision to increase interest rates from zero till the end of the year, giving a big relief to India and other developing countries.