RBI Monetary Policy 2023 Live: RBI policy comes days after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Budget for 2023-24. Mint Road will take comfort in the fact that the FM has maintained fiscal discipline despite a mega capex push and sops for taxpayers. The FM, in post Budget interview to Network18, has said that with inflation fall sustaining and not just a one-month affair, the pressure on the RBI MPC to hike rates has eased.
RBI Monetary Policy 2023 Live updates: Will it be a pause or a 25 basis points hike? All eyes will be on RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das when he unveils the outcome of the crucial monetary policy review, the last one for this fiscal. Several experts feel that the MPC will hike key policy rate by 25 basis points while economists at SBI say that the central bank can hit the pause button while maintaining the current ‘withdrawal of accommodation’ stance. S&P Global Ratings on February 7 said that core inflation in India has been declining sequentially, and an elevated 6.25 per cent policy rate limits the need for further rate hikes. A host of factors will determine the MPC’s response on rate hike and stance including tapering inflation, fears of slowing growth and the data emanating out of advanced economies like US. Headline inflation has fallen below the RBI’s upper end of the tolerance band for November and December.
February 08, 2023 / 08:05 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy Meet 2023 Live: Final rate hike?
– Financial services firm Morgan Stanley recently highlighted in its report that India’s budget maintains its fiscal prudence and the inflation trend is moderating, so the RBI is expected to implement a final rate hike in the February policy review and change its stance to neutral.
February 08, 2023 / 07:55 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy Meet Live
– This week’s monetary policy is seen as crucial as it will be the RBI’s first policy stance for the calendar year 2023 and comes exactly one week after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the Union Budget 2023-24 in the Parliament on February 1.
– Even though the US Federal Reserve is signalling that disinflation has kicked off and the odds of soft-landing in 2023 have increased, the anticipated slowdown in economic growth remains to be a challenge for the rate-setting panel.
February 08, 2023 / 07:45 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy Meet 2023 Live: S&P’s take
– S&P Global Ratings on February 7 said that core inflation in India has been declining sequentially, and an elevated 6.25 per cent policy rate limits the need for further rate hikes.
– “In India, core inflation has been elevated for longer; however, it eased sequentially in the second half of 2022. An already elevated 6.25 per cent policy rate limits the need for further increases,” S&P said in a report.
February 08, 2023 / 07:35 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy Meet Live: SBI economists’ expectations
– Economists at SBI on February 6 said they expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hit the pause button on interest rate hike at its upcoming monetary policy review this week.
– The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the six-member rate setting panel, is likely to continue with the current ‘withdrawal of accommodation’ stance, the SBI economists said.
February 08, 2023 / 07:35 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy Meet Live: SBI economists’ expectations
– Economists at SBI on February 6 said they expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hit the pause button on interest rate hike at its upcoming monetary policy review this week.
– The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the six-member rate setting panel, is likely to continue with the current ‘withdrawal of accommodation’ stance, the SBI economists said.
February 08, 2023 / 07:25 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy Meet 2023 Live: The members of the MPC
– The Monetary Policy Committee consists of three RBI officials and three external members which are appointed by the central government.
– The RBI members include Governor Das, Rajiv Ranjan (Executive Director) and Michael Debabrata Patra (Deputy Governor).
– The external members are Shashanka Bhide (Honorary Senior Advisor, National Council of Applied Economic Research, Delhi); Ashima Goyal (Emeritus Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai); and Jayanth R Varma (Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad).
February 08, 2023 / 07:15 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy 2023 Live updates: Retail inflation
– The RBI has been tasked to ensure that retail inflation remains at 4% with a margin of 2%.
– Although, it failed to keep the inflation rate below 6% for three consecutive quarters beginning January 2022.
– However, the retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has shown signs of moderation in November and December as it fell below the RBI’s upper tolerance level of 6%.
February 08, 2023 / 07:05 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy Meet Live: December monetary policy review
– In its December 2022 monetary policy review, the central bank raised the benchmark interest rate (repo) by 35 bps after delivering three back-to-back increases of 50 bps.
February 08, 2023 / 06:55 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy Meet 2023 Live
– On February 6, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das-headed Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) started its three-day meeting.
– The decision of the six-member rate setting panel will be announced by the Governor today.
February 08, 2023 / 06:45 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy 2023 Live: What does the Finance Minister say?
– Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that with inflation falling on a sustainable basis, the pressure on RBI and MPC to hike interest rates has now eased.
– “I expect since the fall in the inflation doesn’t seem to be just a momentary or a one-month affair, it should sustain itself in the process of coming down and therefore there shouldn’t be that much pressure on the central bank to keep the pace of increasing the rates but the MPC will take a call of course,” she said.
February 08, 2023 / 06:35 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy 2023 Live: Economists’ Expectations
– Economists expect retail inflation projection to average 5% for FY24 and 4.9% for FY25, which will be below RBI’s upper band of 6%.
February 08, 2023 / 06:16 AM IST
RBI policy live updates: Inflation check
The RBI needs to make sure retail inflation stays at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent. However, external factors have led retail inflation to be above the upper tolerance limit for 11 months in a row. In November 2022, retail inflation came below the 6 per cent level and declined further in December at 5.72 per cent.
February 08, 2023 / 06:14 AM IST
RBI monetary policy live:
Both US Fed and the European Central Bank are no longer willing to fight inflation at any cost and are choosing a more traditional, data-dependent approach on rates. Their soft stance on rate tightening will easepressure on the USD-INR exchange rate arising from interest rate differentials. This will allow the RBI to pause and assess the impact of its past policy actions.
February 08, 2023 / 06:13 AM IST
RBI monetary policy live updates: The story so far
Mint Street has hiked the repo rate by 225 bps this year – one of the fastest paces of rate hikes on record. Since over 45% of scheduled commercial bank loans are now linked to an external market-linked benchmark, the transmission of this action into lending rates is already underway.
February 08, 2023 / 06:12 AM IST
RBI Monetary policy live:
Both Dalal Street and bond markets expect a 25 bps policy rate hike. They see a peak in policy rate followed by a mini rate-cut cycle in late FY24. Will Mint Street oblige?
February 08, 2023 / 06:10 AM IST
RBI Monetary Policy 2023 Live updates: What you should know
–Markets see a 25 basis point rate hike from the MPC
— But with inflation tapering, the case for Mint Street to hit pause button is high
— Rate differentials won’t play on RBI’s mind as central banks across world are going soft on rates
