RBI Governor to address media at 10 am

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das will address the media at 10 am on Friday amidst the steep fall in the rupee and the continuing volatility in other segments of the financial markets.

The rupee fell 0.55 per cent to a new record low of 76.86 against the US dollar on Thursday, while the equity indices have been on a see-saw in the wake of the coronaviirus outbreak losing over 30 per cent since January.

"Watchout for the RBI Governor @DasShaktikanta address live at 10.00 am today (April 17, 2020)," RBI said in a tweet.

This will the second time that the governor will be addressing the media since the nationwide lockdown was imposed from March 25.

On March 27, RBI held a historic pre-term MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) meeting whererin the repo rate was cut by a record 75 basis points. The repo rate was reduced to a 15-year-low of 4.40 per cent and was also the steepest cut since October 2004.

The same day, the central bank cut the cash reserve ratio by 100 bps to 3 per cent apart from announcing various measures to boost liquidity in the system.

There were calls that the 75 bps cuts was not sufficient and that RBI could go for more rate cuts and liquidity measures. Many brokerages had said RBI could slash the lending rates by another 100 bps.