RBI's KC Chakrabarty counters Gokarn on possibility of rate cut

MUMBAI: Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor KC Chakrabarty on Friday said interest rates in India were not too high to impact growth, throwing cold water on hopes of central bank action to revive a sputtering economy. This comes only days after fellow Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn raised expectations of a rate cut by saying moderate core inflation and softening global crude prices offered the central bank room to lower policy rates..............

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Sensitisation programme on currency notes

A programme was organised by the Lead District Office and the Bankers' Club here for probationary officers/ newly recruited officers of various banks in the district to sensitise them on currency notes. Officials from the Reserve Bank of India spoke on various features of the currency notes, detection of fake notes, clean note policy, and note exchange policy, among others, a release here on Friday said. V.Ashokan, Deputy General Manager of Syndicate Bank, inaugurated a seminar. He said bankers had big role to play in implementing the decisions of the government and the RBI. E.K. Revikumar, Manager, RBI, engaged the sessions. A.A. Kumar, RBI Assistant General Manager, V.S. Jayaram, Lead District Chief Manager, C.V. Jayachandran, secretary, Bankers Club, and N.Mohanan spoke.

HBL

Impact of policy rate hikes on GDP growth being ‘overplayed'

.....“I don't think that our interest rates are that high, or the policy rates are so high that they should significantly affect growth. Growth is affected due to a variety of reasons and this (policy rate) is just one of them,” ......

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Low GDP growth not due to high interest rates: RBI Deputy Governor

Mumbai, June 8: The Reserve Bank Deputy Governor, Mr K.C. Chakrabarty, today sought to stave off criticism that the nine-year low GDP growth was primarily due to the 20-month high interest rate regime, saying it was driven by a host of other factors. “I don’t think that the interest rates are that high, or our policy rates are that high that should significantly affect growth. Growth is being affected for a variety of reasons. We are overplaying the interest rate aspect (for low growth). It may be one of the reasons,” Mr Chakrabarty told the Skoch summit here......

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Financial Literacy - Concept and its Importance in India

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No rate cut: RBI should help the rupee, not politicians

...........Subbarao should hold his horses. He should instead look to Big Ben and Moderate Mario for cues, not North Block. US Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, despite signs of a slowing US economy, declined to send smoke signals that would suggest that another round of quantitative easing (QE3) or some other form of monetary stimulus is round the corner...........

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Why India Should Not Follow China in Cutting Rates

.......Inflation risks are still high. The Reserve Bank of India can risk raising inflation (further) by cutting rates, when prices are (already) at an elevated level,” Taimur Baig, Chief Economist, Global Markets Research at Deutsche Bank wrote in a note titled 'RBI Should Not Be Cutting Rates on June 18, But Would It Anyway?' ..................

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Credit policy: Will RBI bite the bullet on June 18?

A rate cut from RBI seems to be the demand of the hour. The industry wants it, the government wants it and market players want it. The ball is now in RBI's court..............................

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Chinese checkers

The 25 basis points rate cut by People’s Bank of China (from 6.56% to 6.31%), a first since the 2008 global economic crisis, is the most clear signal that India too—as the other engine of global growth—needs to get back into this role. Despite the comments by KC Chakrabarty, deputy governor of RBI, rates are hurting..............

Read - FE Editorial

RBI must cut rates to stimulate growth: Basu

............ In his personal opinion, the Reserve Bank of India should cut policy rates to support growth. India should take advantage of the depreciating rupee to boost exports, Dr Basu said. “We should take advantage of the depreciating rupee. Much of this depreciation is because of external factors and many other world currencies have also depreciated.” .....................

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Not possible to grow at 7.5%, domestic factors slowing growth: Montek

.....That level is not comfortable, Ahluwalia said, adding that the central bank needs to do a “balancing act”. “Monetary policy needs to be forward looking, (there is) too much emphasis is being laid on the short term rate,” he said. “Lowering the rate would be a good signal, but there are a number of other factors.”  The RBI is scheduled to hold its mid-quarterly policy review on June 18, and................

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RBI is way behind the curve

China just reduced interest rates by 25 basis points, the first reduction since 2008. Australia has reduced its interest rates twice in the last month by a cumulative 75 basis points. These decisions have been applauded by all, governments, investors and analysts. RBI reduced interest rates by 50 basis points near the end of April and most analysts (especially those belonging to foreign banks) were severely critical of the RBI decision. Why this asymmetrical treatment? Sometimes I half-believe in conspiracy theories interested in keeping Indian growth down so that Indian governments will be less arrogant!..................

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Has RBI just ruled out a rate cut?

........A rate cut would have been possible if inflation was lower. The RBI, so far, hasn’t been able to reign in inflation because of structural rigidities in improving the supply side. It cut repo rates by 0.50 basis points to 8%, in April, a surprise move which caught many investors, savers and the financial community off guard. In fact, the RBI panicked as inflation was actually rising when the central bank had left rates intact for a period of time, after continuously hiking rates, for more than a year, to reign in inflation. Hence...........................

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India needs radical change here and now !

.....We, in India, were able to withstand the crisis situations initially because of an insulated rupee and fairly strong fundamentals thanks to an astute Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor who refused to institute full convertibility of the rupee. Our bludgeoning domestic middle-class market absorbing all that is produced or imported, booming stock market and good monsoons went into the phases of Shining India of high growth rate.............

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RBI raises number of NRI remittances

The Reserve Bank of India, on Friday, permitted non-resident Indians (NRIs) to send remittances more frequently, a step to boost foreign currency inflows and check rupee fall. Resident Indians are now allowed to receive as many as 30 remittances from NRI friends and relatives during a year as against 12 earlier, according to a latest RBI circular. Analysts said the RBI decision would help raise foreign exchange reserves.........

Read - The Hindu

RBI move

Mumbai, June 8: The RBI today allowed resident Indians to receive as many as 30 remittances from NRI friends and relatives during a year against 12 earlier. The apex bank also said it would pump Rs 12,000 crore into the market on June 12 by buying government securities to ease the liquidity situation.

The Telegraph

Customers seek lower limit on credit cards

...."People are using cards for basic purposes such as air tickets and utilites payment. Also, there are more place where cards are accepted," said Narahari. RBI data shows that at present there are over 90,000 ATMs and 6.5 lakh PoS terminals in the country.

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‘Remit IT dues in advance'

Chennai, June 8:  The Reserve Bank of India has advised income-tax assesses to remit their income-tax dues in advance to avoid last- minute rush and long wait in queues. The rush for remitting dues at the bank is generally heavy towards the end of June and it becomes difficult for the RBI to cope with the pressures of receipts, despite providing additional counters, said the RBI in a press release. Apart from the RBI, select branches of nationalised, public and private sector banks in Tamil Nadu are authorised to accept payment of income-tax dues in cash or by cheque.

HBL

RBI to banks on unique ID codes

Banks must assign unique customer identification codes to their new as well as existing clients by May 31, 2013, the Reserve Bank of India said in a notification on Friday. The unique identification code will help in stronger enforcement of know-your-customer norms, and aid banks in identifying customers, tracking the facilities availed, etc.

BS

RBI cuts RTGS deal threshold to Rs1 lakh till Saturday

The threshold limit in RTGS System transactions has been cut to Rs1 lakh from existing Rs 2 lakh until 9th June............

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