Govt will take further steps to boost growth and control price rise: FM

18 Apr 2012 Evaluate

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is hopeful that the recent cut in interest rates will spur growth. He has also stated that the government will take additional steps to incentivize growth and control price rise. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its monetary policy review slashed the repo rates by 50 basis points after a span of three years. The move is aimed at making credit cheaper and thereby increasing business activity.

After clocking over 8% economic growth for two years, India's GDP expansion declined to 3-year low of 6.9% in 2011-12. During the three year period, post the 2008 crisis, growth rates dropped due to the global slowdown and in part due to the high rates of credit. However, the RBI was not in a position to cut interest rates to stimulate growth due to the persistently high inflation. In fact RBI hiked policy rates 13 times between March 2010 and October 2011 to control the inflation.

With the recent cut, the Finance Minister is optimistic that the economy will recover its growth rate as India is driven by domestic demand and is only partly affected by the global scene. However, Mukherjee has cautioned that food inflation would continue to be high and the government will have to monitor the situation consistently. He also added that the government will do everything possible to maintain price stability.

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