First Monetary Policy Committee Meeting Begins
Mumbai: As the newly-constituted Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) started its first meeting on Monday to fix the benchmark interest rate, experts said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may opt for status quo and wait for further easing of inflation.
The six-member panel headed by RBI Governor Urjit Patel began its two-day deliberations to consider various factors like inflation, credit offtake and the need to propel growth, foreign trade and global economic factors.
Moving away from the usual practice of announcement at 11 a.m., the fourth bi-monthly monetary policy review would be made public at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
Experts are of the opinion that given the price situation, the panel is expected to keep rates unchanged to meet the targeted inflation of four per cent with the margin of two per cent on either side.
"I don't think the Reserve Bank is going to change rates as inflation readings - based on both WPI and CPI - have not softened much," Bank of Maharashtra managing director and chief executive R P Marathe told PTI.
August retail inflation eased to a five-month low of 5.05 per cent but Wholesale Price Index-based inflation climbed to a two-year high of 3.74 per cent. Before the dip in August, both the retail as well as wholesale price indices were on a continuous upward spiral.
The government had in August notified an inflation target of four per cent with a range of plus/minus two per cent for the next five years under the monetary policy framework agreement with the RBI.
Mr Patel was the one who wrote the inflation targeting path for the RBI when he was deputy to former governor Rajan, and analysts say it is unlikely that he will jettison his guard on price rise, especially under the new inflation targeting framework.
"RBI is unlikely to cut rate this time," Union Bank of India chairman and managing director Arun Tiwari said.
On his policy expectations from the new RBI governor, he said Mr Patel may announce "some more measures related to resolution of non-performing assets".
