Parliament LIVE: UPA term was India's 'andhkaal', says FM Sitharaman

Rampant corruption, double digit inflation, policy paralysis were part of the dark age under Congress rule, says Sitharaman

9:13 PM

Banks sanction loans worth Rs 3.1 trillion to MSMEs under ECLGS: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said banks have sanctioned loans worth Rs 3.1 lakh crore under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector that was impacted by disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

The scheme has been extended till March 2023.

 

"Those MSMEs who still wants to benefit out of it are welcome to use it... the amount of loan sanctioned under the ECLGS is Rs 3.1 lakh crore and guarantee space is still Rs 1.4 lakh crore," she said in her 100-minute reply to the discussion on Union Budget 2022-23 in Lok Sabha.

 

As much as Rs 2.36 lakh crore have been disbursed to MSMEs, she said. READ MORE...

8:53 PM

UPA Govt had given away our rights to secure food procurement policy: FM

8:06 PM

Banks sanctioned Rs 3.10 trn to MSMEs: FM

7:47 PM

Urban unemployment has declined, now at pre-pandemic levels, says FM

7:25 PM

Rampant corruption, double digit inflation were part of the dark age under Congress rule: FM

7:18 PM

Andhkaal prevailed during Congress rule: Sitharaman

7:12 PM

Govt is responding to the inflation situation: FM

Govt is responding to the inflation situation in india. There was double digit inflation during Congress regime. Every morning it was dreadful to see the newspapers with new scams coming to light, says FM.

7:10 PM

FM slams Congress

India had forex reserves only of 2 weeks during Congress regime. Congress brought reforms under compulsion, says FM

7:05 PM

44 Unicorns have been identified in this country between 2020 and 2021, says FM

1:42 PM

There'll be no difference between Digital Rupee and the normal rupee: Das

1:38 PM

Cryptos a threat to macroeconomic and financial stability, says Das

12:52 PM

We expect a smooth re-balancing of liquidity conditions, says RBI Deputy Governor Michael Patra

At the current time, the repo and reverse repo rates reflect our stance. What we do going forward will be a calibrated and well-telegraphed approach. We expect a smooth re-balancing of liquidity conditions. Our actions have been very seamless and not caused any volatility. So I do not see any undue volatility in money markets.

12:41 PM

RBI Monetary Policy LIVE Update: Can't givea timeline on digital currency

We can't give a timeline on CBDC. But what I can say is that whatever we are doing, we are doing it very carefully and cautiously. We have to keep risks like cyber-security and counterfeiting in mind. So we are proceeding cautiously and can't give a timeline: Governor Shaktikanta Das 
 

Work on Central Bank Digital Currency is ongoing. Once the law, as proposed, is amended, we can go ahead with our proofs of concept and pilot projects: RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar

12:39 PM

Rajni Thakur, Chief Economist, RBL Bank on RBI monetary policy announcement.

“With continued accommodative stance and putting any rate action on hold, RBI is walking the Talk of its “durable growth” focus. Growth projections for the next fiscal year at 7.8% reflects our concern on demand uncertainties in the second half while inflation projections at 4.5% for 2022-23 is lower than our expectations. Though high oil prices and supply issues were mentioned as risk elements, MPC’s inflation trajectory trends lower in H1 FY23 thereby ‘providing room to remain accommodative’.

 

Since the large government borrowing programme for the next year that has been pushing up the bond yields doesn’t find a mention yet, it’s likely that RBI is trying to buy time and focus on managing rates expectations for the remaining two months of current fiscal year for now. The signalling is quite clear in this meeting that despite global rates inching up and upwards risks on inflation levels, RBI will tilt towards dragging its feet on rates normalisation well into the next fiscal year as well while continuing with its liquidity management steps.“

12:00 PM

RBI is still very dovish, but will inflation really remain low?

The February credit policy review of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would not have been considered to be critical under normal conditions. But with the Union Budget projecting borrowing of Rs 14.95 trillion for fiscal 2022-23 (FY23) and not giving clear guidance on inflation, the markets went into a tizzy with the 10-year bond increasing by over 20 basis points (bps).

 

Subsequently, there has been volatility in the market and the announcement made on Tuesday that the Friday auction has been called off after considering the cash balances of the government, the impression gotten is that this year's borrowing will probably be even lower than budgeted. This has assuaged the market for sure. READ ON...