RBI must cut interest rates despite rising inflation: India Inc

15 Oct 2013 Evaluate

Expressing need to shore up flagging investor sentiment which has been adversely affected by high interest rates, India Inc has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rates in its forthcoming monetary policy review saying that food inflation will fall in coming months with the arrival of kharif crops. The WPI inflation, a most closely gauge of price rise in the economy, accelerated to 7-month high of 6.46% in the month of September as against 6.10% in August. The rise in inflation has been primary driven by high food article prices.

President of PHD Chamber of Commerce Suman Jyoti Khaitan said that the central bank should cut interest rate as it has become imperative to facilitate industrial production process in order to revive industrial growth prospect and to enhance country’s exports. While, CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said that the rise in inflation should not come in the way of RBI’s forthcoming monetary easing as strong agriculture output on the back of better than expected monsoon would provide some relief in food prices. 

Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said that upcoming quarterly monetary policy review must not resort to interest rate tightening, as it would further push the prices up. By adding further, he said that central bank should ease monetary tightening to make domestic industry competitive. Furthermore, Ficci Secretary General Didar Singh said that over the past few months, food inflation has remained at high level and there is a need to tackle the issue by taking adequate measures from the supply and distribution side instead of rising interest rates. Inflation in food articles rose by 18.40% in September as against 18.18% in August mainly on account of supply disruptions resulted from heavy monsoon and poor storage facilities in the country. 

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