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The ongoing West Asia conflict has highlighted India's structural vulnerability to energy shocks, reinforcing the need to reduce dependence on imported crude and accelerate efforts to strengthen energy security, according to an external member of the RBI's rate-setting panel. Nagesh Kumar, who is the director of the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development and also a part of the Monetary Policy Committee, said the Indian approach needs to focus both on stepping up oil exploration domestically and hastening the transition to alternative sources. "The high dependence on imported crude makes the Indian economy highly vulnerable to volatility in the hydrocarbons market. While India's macroeconomic fundamentals remain resilient, and the Indian economy will continue to remain the fastest growing major economy with a growth rate of nearly 7 per cent in 2026-27, it is time to prioritise energy security and resilience for sustaining the accelerating economic growth trajectory," Kumar .
Members of the Reserve Bank's rate-setting panel voted for the status quo on interest rates earlier this month, citing uncertainties posed by the West Asia crisis and its impact on inflation, according to minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) released on Wednesday. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra opined that the West Asia conflict poses challenges to the Indian economy through a number of channels exports, supply of critical commodities, elevated energy and other commodity prices, remittances, uncertainty, and subdued global demand. Overall, geopolitical uncertainties have intensified with the conflict widening its spread over the last month, he said. As a result, supply chain disruptions, which may take longer to subside fully and restore the logistics network, pose downside risks to the growth and upside risks to inflation. "As for monetary policy, this represents a supply shock. The underlying inflation pressures, minus the shock, are contained. "If the conflict remains .
The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday said "excessive speculation" on the rupee prompted surprise actions on the currency front in the last fortnight, but clarified that its measures will not remain forever. "In the last few weeks of March, we have witnessed heightened volatility in the foreign exchange market. These measures are reactions to the specific market movements. They are not signalling any structural changes. These are not measures going to remain forever," Malhotra said in a post-policy press conference. Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said there was an "artificial drying up" of supply in the market during those days, which led to the measures. The comments from the apex bank came for the first time after it capped NOP (net open positions)-rupee positions in the onshore deliverable market at USD 100 million and barred authorised dealers from offering non-deliverable forwards. The first measure helped the local currency to appreciate sharply, but gains were reversed withi
The Reserve Bank did not come across any governance or conduct-related issues during supervisory inspection of HDFC Bank, Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Wednesday. Responding to a question at the post-monetary policy press conference on sudden resignation of HDFC Bank Chairman Atanu Chakraborty and subsequent fall in its share price, Malhotra said RBI had also seen minutes of meetings of the lender, and the RBI did not find any thing of material concern. He said the RBI in its press release on March 19 too had said there were no material concerns on record as regards the bank's conduct or governance. "HDFC Bank is a Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB) with sound financials, professionally run board and competent management team. Basis our periodical assessment, there are no material concerns on record as regards its conduct or governance," the RBI said in its press release. Chakraborty had resigned on March 18. Malhotra also asserted that India's banking system is "very