The central board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has opposed a government move to have control over the central bank's staff-related matters. The proposal to make staff regulations statutory and bring them under the subordinate regulation of Parliament was discussed at RBI's board meeting in Kolkata last week.
This demand comes at a time when the government is falling short of its revenue targets due to dwindling tax and low disinvestment receipts. It could account for the dividend in the upcoming Union Budget on February 1. RBI is, however, yet to take a final call on the government's demand and might decide on this at its central board meeting scheduled for February 15 in New Delhi.
Deputy Governor Michael Patra warned about the spillover effects of food inflation.
The Reserve Bank of India has launched an assault on inflation by increasing the cash reserve ratio (CRR) 75 basis points to 5.75 per cent. While sounding upbeat on economic growth, the central bank has kept the door open for an increase in interest rates even before the annual policy statement in April.
The former bureaucrat said he will take measures which the economy requires in a timely manner and as the first step, will meet the heads of public sector banks.
Amid decelerating manufacturing growth, the Reserve Bank wants the government to come out with measures in the Budget to give a boost to the sector, which can employ surplus labour from agriculture.
RBI promises to take all necessary steps, including liquidity support
RBI had made available a potential liquidity of Rs 5.60 lakh crore (Rs 5.6 trillion), nearly 9 per cent of gross domestic product, to help the country tide over the liquidity crisis following the global financial meltdown triggered by the collapse of America's iconic investment banker Lehman Brothers in mid-September.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday said it expects the economy to record positive growth in the second half of the current financial year.
The regulator said that it is vested within its purview to regulate the bank account for payment systems and the settlement systems are finally posted in the books of account of banks with the RBI to attain settlement finality.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said the central bank does not "emulate" others when it comes to regulations and asserted that the bank's as well as his own opposition to cryptocurrencies remain unchanged, a day after US regulators allowed bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). He also said that emerging markets and the world cannot afford to have a "crypto mania". "What is good for another market need not be good for us.
Blaming high cash balance with the Government for aggravating liquidity strain in the system, the Reserve Bank on Thursday asked it to loosen purse strings for easing the situation. "On Wednesday, the government cash balance stood at Rs 92,000 crore (Rs 920 billion).
Ahead of the monetary policy review, RBI governor D Subbarao is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on October 23.
The sharp decline in rupee against the dollar is a cause of concern and there are expectations that steps would be announced to boost the domestic currency, the finance minister said.
He said the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 has waned by August,and economic growth will be better from the second quarter onward on a sequential basis. Speaking at an event organised by The Indian Express and Financial Times, Das said the RBI has decided to give more emphasis on growth because of the pandemic and operate in the 2-6 per cent inflation band set by the government for it. The central bank will seek to gradually move towards achieving the 4 per cent target over a period of time, he said, adding that the possibility of a sustained increase in inflation is unlikely.
The additional cash will now give the Centre more headroom for stimulating the economy.
With Deputy Governor Viral Acharya and another member Chetan Ghate voting for a status quo, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das and three others outvoted them for reduction in repo rate to 6.25 per cent from the existing 6.50 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday decided to leave benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent but maintained an accommodative stance as the economy faces heat of the second Covid wave.
North Block and Mint Road seem likely to now stick to the earlier convention of the RBI governor coming to Delhi and being the only MPC member meeting the finance minister and senior bureaucrats on pre-policy meetings
A repo rate hike may hurt growth far more than it will help deal with an inflation rate that is already dropping.
The continuing global uncertainity has complicated the fight against inflation, opined Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Michael Debabrata Patra during the Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on February 8. According to the minutes of the MPC meeting released on Wednesday, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das also mentioned that there is considerable uncertainty due to a host of global factors such as rising non-oil commodity prices. The RBI on February 8 hiked the key short-term lending rate by 25 basis points to 6.5 per cent, citing sticky core inflation.
While the fiscal year has just begun, any windfall surplus will be welcomed by the government as it bids to meet the fiscal deficit target of 5.9 per cent of GDP, amidst lack of clarity on exactly to what extent will recession in the West impact India's trade and tax collections.
The Jalan panel has recommended to the RBI to keep shady entities out of banking licence race.
Govt likely to get full control on policy rate.
Stating that recent agriculture reforms have opened new opportunities, the RBI Governor said the farm sector is emerging as a bright spot.
The RBI is understood to be dithering since it would want more clarity on the cost of the fiscal policies the new government would undertake before it decides to cut rates, even though it has pencilled in a lower gross domestic product growth rate for this fiscal year.
A few market and economic indicators have begun looking up, thanks to what many term the 'Rajan effect'.
The Reserve Bank of India may go in for further tightening of money supply as there is no likelihood of inflation coming to single digit in the next six months, according to indications given by the central bank governor to a parliamentary panel.
They alleged that the central bank has "failed miserably" in handling the situation post-demonetisation.
RBI staff tell Governor Urjit Patel that the central bank's image of efficiency and independence has 'gone into smithereens in no time.'
The Reserve Bank of India has admitted that security features introduced in the higher denomination notes in 2005 as an anti-counterfeiting measure have been breached!
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
Many banks' profits will take a hit and a few of them could even end up being in the red because of treasury losses, triggered by a sudden spike in government bond yields in the rising interest rate cycle, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The Reserve Bank on Friday retained the real GDP growth projection at 9.5 per cent for 2021-22 as domestic economic activity has started normalising with the ebbing of the second wave of the virus and the phased reopening of the economy. In the June monetary policy, the RBI had lowered the growth projection for 2021-22 to 9.5 per cent from 10.5 per cent estimated earlier. Unveiling the bi-monthly monetary policy, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Dad said high-frequency indicators suggest that consumption (both private and government); investment; and external demand are all on the path of regaining traction.
According to RBI sources, the government -- which appoints deputy governors -- is of the view that it will do away with the practice of reappointment to important posts like chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, RBI, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
However, since the banking system is facing tight cash conditions due to payment for spectrum for high speed telecom and broadband services and advance tax outgo, some experts are also of the view that RBI would wait for liquidity to ease before going for rate hikes.
Members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) felt that though the Indian economy was resilient in the third wave, it, however, lost some momentum and with inflation likely to soften, there is room to continue with the accommodative stance and support revival, the minutes of the MPC meeting released on Thursday revealed. The six-member MPC voted to keep the policy rate unchanged and continued with the accommodative stance at its meeting on February 10. However, external member Jayanth Verma voted against the stance because he felt a switch to neutral was long overdue and the current stance has become counterproductive and deflects focus away from addressing recessionary trends that date back to at least 2019.
Rajan added "many" market participants were convinced that India could hit the RBI's target of bringing down consumer inflation to 6 percent by January 2016.
Among the Sensex firms, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Nestle, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Maruti and HDFC Bank were the major laggards.
RBI had a board meeting recently.
