A day after the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, industry bodies have said that the Fed rate hike will have marginal influence on the monetary policy stance of the RBI and not expected to create much volatility in the Indian markets. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has said that RBI's policy stance is likely to be determined by a host of factors, the Fed rate hike being one of them.
FICCI also stated that fed rate hike may not have any significant impact on the Indian economy. It noted that while there could be some capital outflows, India is likely to be least impacted amongst the emerging markets. Stressing impact on India's exports, it said that the rate hike corroborates better growth prospects of the US economy, which in turn will have positive implications on global trade, including exports from India.
The Chamber has anticipated that the central bank will adopt an accommodative stance in its upcoming monetary policy, scheduled to be announced on April 6. Meanwhile, exporters' body Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) too hoped that the RBI would not hike rates. FIEO has said that the impact of Fed hike will be almost negligible on India as FDI and FII inflows in India will continue unabated.
The Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate for the second time in three months and forecast two additional hikes this year. The US Fed's key short-term rate was hiked by 0.25 percent to a still-low range of 0.75 per cent to 1 percent.