RBI needs to be more hawkish to tame inflation

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The monetary policy committee’s decision to keep key rates unchanged was on expected lines and may continue in the near future to support growth as private consumption has slowly started and several stalled projects have been revived due to the government’s efforts, stated ASSOCHAM and NAREDCO National President, Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani.

The repo rate is kept unchanged at 4 percent and reverse repo rate too stands unchanged at 3.35 percent. The Reserve Bank of India needs to have a hawkish stance while looking at the inflation figures and try to taper it further in order to mitigate the supply-side pressure.

“The pro-active stance of the government to tackle the supply side issues would be instrumental in reducing the food prices further. As the numbers show that the economy is recuperating at a quicker pace than anticipated is a very good sign. There are several sectors which are showing an upturn consolidating the fact that the GDP growth numbers would be positive soon,” he added.

Home loans will continue to remain at attractive rates, this should augur well for home buying sentiment,” he added.

Also Read: RBI will preserve it’s paramount objective to revive economy: Das

“The projected real GDP growth for FY21 at -7.5 per cent vs -9.5 per cent projected earlier augurs well for the recovery story. Q3 growth is seen at 0.1 per cent; Q4 at 0.7 per cent bears out the RBI Governor’s statement on business sentiment of manufacturing firms ‘gradually improving’. RBI Governor’s proposal to expand on-tap TLTROs to cover other sectors is a positive move, the important thing he pointed out being that economic constraints have started to ease,” he concluded.

Limit for contactless card transactions to be raised from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per transaction from January and the announcement to make the RTGS system operational round the clock is a welcome step, Dr. Hiranandani said.

The RBI announced that after the dismal 23.9 percent contraction in the April-June quarter, the economy has recovered with the July –September quarter contracting to 7.5 percent. The industry is anticipating the Jan-March quarter to be positive, he said.

“Owing to inflation concerns and steep reductions previously, the RBI was expected to keep rates unchanged. With commercial banks being asked to consolidate profits and not distribute dividends, it’s time the banks further sweeten the lending rates. With vaccine announcements around the corner and persistent recovery in the economy, the country can be expected to fully recover financially by the end of Q4 FY 20-21”, said Mr. Kaushal Agarwal, Chairman, The Guardians Real Estate Advisory.

“Keeping the inflation in mind, the RBI was expected to keep the rates unchanged. The real estate sector already had a good festive season and we can see the recovery is expected to strengthen further. The sector is already optimistic because of the increased buyer interest in real estate assets and we expect the demand to sustain in the next quarter as well. The RBI has already announced several favourable measures this year for the real estate sector; however, more needs to be done such as the decision on Input Tax Credit and reduction in premiums at the State Government level,” said Mr. Bhushan Nemlekar Director, Sumit Woods Limited