Amid mounting expectation of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after the government in its Budget 2016-17 had stuck to its fiscal deficit targets for the current and coming financial years, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian has said that rate cut is one useful input in kick-starting the economy, but is not the only panacea for the problems plaguing the economy. He stated that “I think no one policy lever is a panacea for us. You have to work on all fronts”.
Subramanian has stressed on the need to have strategies to protect against future financial crises, though said that there is a remote likelihood of that now. He further said that the fact that there are so many vulnerabilities around the world, there is a very small probability that India could have a very major financial crisis.
RBI has been under intense pressure over the past week to cut interest rates after the government stuck to its fiscal deficit targets for the current and the next financial years. A rate cut is expected in the April review. Reviving growth continues to be a priority for the policymakers and traditionally, an easy money policy is seen as a tool to achieve the end.
Since January 2015, the RBI has cut its key rates by a cumulative 1.25 per cent, when with the ebbing of inflation worries, it switched to an accommodative stance. Last rate cut by RBI was on September 29, 2015 by 50 bps from 7.25 per cent to 6.75 per cent with immediate effect in its fourth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2015-16.
Start Research-backed Investing ...Now. Subscribe to Sapphire
MoneyWorks4Me is a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser (IA) dedicated to helping investors build long-term wealth through transparent, research-driven, conflict-free guidance. Founded in 2008, we started our journey as a Research Analyst (RA), providing deep fundamental analysis, intrinsic value insights, and long-term investing frameworks for Indian equities. In 2017, we transitioned to a full-fledged SEBI-registered Investment Adviser, strengthening our commitment to acting as a fiduciary—always putting the investor’s interest first.
To become India’s most trusted, research-powered fiduciary advisory platform—where every investor, regardless of experience, can make calm, confident, and well-reasoned investment decisions.
MoneyWorks4Me ensures this through: