The industry also emphasised on supply-side interventions by the government to tackle persistently high food inflation.
The Reserve Bank of India has raised inflation projection to 6.5 per cent with an upside bias by this fiscal end from 5 per cent projected earlier.
Moreover, the RBI's use of reserve ratios, statutory liquidity ratio and cash reserve ratio as monetary policy tools affected banks' profitability: No interest is paid on CRR balances, and the interest yield on SLR securities is far lower than the yields on advances.
The apex bank hiked its repo, reverse repo (overnight lending and borrowing rates) to 5.25 per cent and 3.75 per cent, respectively, while the cash reserve ratio, or the portion of deposits banks park with RBI, to 6 per cent in line with analysts' expectations.
Challenged by unrelenting inflationary pressures, Reserve Bank on Tuesday announced stringent measures of hiking mandatory cash reserve of the banks and its short-term lending rate to them to suck up an estimated Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) -- a move that could make loans dearer for housing, car and personal expenses as also to the industry.
Home, consumer and other loan rates are expected to go up with Reserve Bank of India announcing a hawkish credit policy hiking key short-term lending rate by 0.5 per cent and mandatory cash reserve requirement by 0.25 per cent to contain runaway inflation now at 11.89 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday cut short-term lending rate by 0.25 per cent.
'The central bank has highlighted that the slowdown in growth has been limited to a few sectors and overall growth is expected to pick up in the second half of the year.'
There are however, enough dovish signals in the governor's statement to indicate a pro-growth policy going forward.
The Reserve Bank of India said it would attempt to bring down inflation from 11-12 per cent to 7 per cent by March, 2009.
RBI is also considering a proposal to re-introduce inflation-indexed bonds.
The last four years, the best for corporate profits in a long time, have not been as impressive for corporate capital expenditure. The combined net profits of India's top listed companies excluding banks, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.4 per cent since FY20, a sharp jump from the 7.4 per cent in corporate earnings between FY14 and FY19.
The RBI has changed the way it approached supervision in the past. Having seen a couple of collapses in the NBFC sector and the near-collapse of a few banks, it is focusing on regular drills to prevent a fire from breaking out, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'If it doesn't, it will continue with measures to infuse liquidity, signalling a new cycle,' predicts Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The RBI, however, kept other key rates and ratios like repo, reverse repo and cash reserve ratio unchanged.
Amid liquidity tightness in the banking system, certificate of deposit (CD) rates topped 8 per cent for some smaller banks, with rates remaining on the higher side for derivatives loss-hit IndusInd Bank. On Thursday, CSB Bank raised Rs 100 crore via one-year CDs at 8.5 per cent, while Utkarsh Small Finance Bank issued three-month CDs at 8.05 per cent to raise Rs 50 crore.
Reserve Bank is scheduled to announce its bi-monthly monetary policy on August 3.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) clarification on the final norms for new bank licences has much to mull on for the many entities interested. It has clearly ruled out any benefit to the new entrants in terms of more time to meet the cash reserve ratio/statutory liquidity ratio (CRR/SLR) requirements.
It is a classic case of extremes: The worst contraction in GDP along with the highest-ever levels of cash in the economy; and a severe dent in consumption together with strong growth in bank deposits and digital payments.
According to bankers, this is because the currency demand during the festival season is expected to remain strong.
After the Reserve Bank unveiled the third quarterly review of the monetary policy, several bankers said that they may not go in for rate cut immediately.
The RBI under former governor Shaktikanta Das resisted pressures to cut interest rates through 2024 as it kept its 'Arjuna's eye' trained on inflation, but the central bank under a new detail-oriented head will soon have to take a call if it can continue sacrificing growth. Das, a career bureaucrat who in 2016 oversaw Prime Minister Narendra Modi's highly disruptive demonetisation move, left a lasting legacy as he demitted office towards the end of 2024 after expertly navigating monetary policy for six years, the highlight of which was steering India's recovery through the pandemic.
In short, if India Inc lives up to the expectations in the required measure of resilience, innovation, initiative, imagination and leadership, it can help harmonise the imperatives of growth with control of inflation.
State Bank of India Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri again made a strong pitch for a reduction in banks' Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at the Reserve Bank's mid-quarter review of monetary policy scheduled September 7.
CRR is the proportion of deposits each bank must keep in the form of cash.
While the IT stocks traded firm since the start of the day, the BSE IT index soared to a 10-year high.
The economists, polled by industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the RBI may raise the cash reserve ratio, which is a portion of deposits that banks keep in cash with the central bank, by 50 basis points to 5.5 per cent, although this would have no impact on containing inflation.
Cash-strapped real estate firms are resorting to short-term borrowings of funds to complete ongoing projects as the economic slowdown has virtually halted demand for properties, freezing cash flows.
Liquidity in the banking system has slipped into a deficit for the first time in three weeks, prompting banks to borrow the largest quantum of funds from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in around a month and a half. The key catalyst for the sudden tightening in liquidity was due to outflows on account of advance tax payments, which occur towards the end of a quarter. Analysts also cited other factors such as a currency leakage and possible interventions by the RBI in the foreign exchange market, which contributed to the tighter liquidity conditions.
Property developers expect to boost sales of homes and borrow funds at lower rates after the Reserve Bank of India on Friday reduced its key benchmark rate and cut the cash-reserve ratio requirement in a bid to help banks lower interest rates and lend more to cash-starved sectors, including the real estate. They are hopeful of attracting more overseas investment in projects as demand revives.
The Reserve Bank might hike the Cash Reserve Ratio (statutory cash balances banks maintain with the apex bank) by 0.50% in its credit policy if inflation remains high, feel Indian bankers. The RBI is scheduled to announce annual credit policy for fiscal 2008-09 on April 29. RBI is likely to tighten money supply in its forthcoming annual credit policy to suck out excess liquidity from the system. Growth has moderated in recent months.
Industry has been going through a phase of high interest rates, declining demand and insufficient working capital.
Showing concerns over hardening inflation, the Reserve Bank today left the key interest rate unchanged but reduced cash reserve ratio by 0.25 per cent to inject Rs 17,500 crore (Rs 175 billion) liquidity into the financial system.
Industry body Confederation of Indian Industry said with the government having announced a clear road map for fiscal consolidation and non-food inflation demonstrating a secular decline, conditions are conducive for RBI to have intervened with a repo and cash reserve ratio reduction.
The RBI has, however, left the cash reserve ratio or bank rate, which is the amount of cash that banks have to park with the central bank to maintain prudential norms, unchanged at 6 per cent.
The bank kept cash reserve ratio unchanged at 6 per cent.
Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan on Tuesday called RBI's policy action a "wise decision". The liquidity easing measures will have an impact on interest rates, he said.
What impact will this hike in RBI rates have on the banks and industries? What do the bankers have to say? How is India Inc reacting to the rate change?
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