The Indian economy has withstood all geopolitical shocks in the last couple of years and it will also be able to navigate the uncertainties that lie ahead, RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Jayanth R Varma said on Sunday. Varma further said he expects a benign outcome in 2024 where inflation comes down and growth remains robust. "The Indian economy has withstood all these shocks ( Russia-Ukraine war, Israel-Hamas war, rising oil prices, Houthi attacks) in the last couple of years, and I do not believe that the geopolitical situation will be significantly worse in coming months than what we experienced in the recent past," he told PTI in an interview. Moreover, Varma, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, said the continued slowdown in China has led to sharply reduced demand for energy and other commodities, and this too has ameliorated the adverse effects of supply shock. "On the whole, I have a great deal of confidence that India will be able to ..
First Advance Estimates for 2023-24 would be released by the NSO today
Shashanka Bhide, one of the three external members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), on Thursday flagged a weak consumption demand as a key vulnerability for growth in the second half of the current fiscal as well as the next financial year. After more-than-expected Q2 growth which printed at 7.6 per cent on the back of a 7.8 per cent clip in Q2, the Reserve Bank in the December policy review revised upwards the FY24 growth projection by 50 bps to 7 per cent. While the government does not have an official GDP forecast number, it expects the economy to grow at 6.5-7 per cent this fiscal. "The September quarter growth at 7.6 per cent was significantly more than what we were expecting. But these numbers, even when they are more positive or favourable, require far more concern. "I believe there are vulnerabilities to this 7 per cent growth assessment. The few major growth drivers include investments that are driving growth, but we see weaker growth in consumption demand," Bhide s
Jayanth Varma, an external member of the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee, has stated that an interest rate cut is required to prevent excessive real interest rates amid changing economic landscape
Retail inflation: In the recent MPC announcement, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had said that the inflation figures may show an uptick in November and December owing to food output pressures
MPC holds repo rate at 6.5% but maintains tight stance as inflation remains a concern
Inflation remains a top priority, and a few months of good data should not lead to complacency: Das
Market analysts said that the RBI's persistent focus on addressing the uneven distribution of liquidity in the banking system led them to the adoption of measure
RBI monetary policy: The RBI also decided to maintain its policy stance at "withdrawal of accommodation"
Focusing on digital banking, the RBI announced a regulatory framework for web-aggregation of loan products and proposed the establishment of a fintech repository by April 2024
RBI MPC: Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee decides to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5% and also keeps the FY24 inflation forecast unchanged at 5.4%
RBI MPC meeting: The meeting of the six-member committee started on December 6 in Mumbai and will end with the announcement of Governor Shaktikanta Das on December 8
RBI has maintained a hawkish tone in the last two policy reviews, and those steps were to further reinforce the point that the central bank is not dropping its guard on inflation any time soon
Food prices will remain a risk for the MPC
The RBI will not take its eyes off inflation. There is no room for complacency
At the Business Standard BFSI Summit last month, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the Q2 GDP figure is likely to surprise everyone on the upside
The RBI's rate-setting panel has raised the repo rate by 250 basis points cumulatively between May 2022 and February 2023 to manage inflation expectations
NBFCs tend to mute monetary transmission in the short run but amplify it in the long run
Das said that it will 'actively' manage the liquidity in the economy. The central bank will undertake open market operations to do so
MPC keeps repo rate unchanged; retains growth, inflation forecast