Core investment norms released by RBI

Reserve Bank of India on Friday said core investment companies with assets over Rs 1 billion will be required to obtain certificate of registration from it while the ones below Rs 1 billion need not.

A core investment company means a non-banking finance company which holds not less than 90 per cent of its total assets in the form of investment in equity shares, preference shares, debt or loans in group companies, the bank said.

Key rates decision after analysing Inflation problem root - RBI

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary stance will depend on whether it perceives inflation as stemming from excessive liquidity or due to supply constraints, the country's top civil servant said.

On Tuesday, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar allayed concerns of persistently high prices, reiterating the government's forecast of headline inflation easing to 5-6 percent by the end of the year.

India's annual headline inflation stayed above 10 percent for the fifth straight month in June, cementing expectations the RBI will raise interest rates for a second time this month to contain price pressures.

A majority of economists expect the RBI to raise key interest rates by 25 basis points in its quarterly review on July 27 and tighten policy further in coming quarters, a new Reuters poll showed.

"A call will have to be taken by the Reserve Bank (RBI) on whether inflation is on account of high money supply or is it on account of certain sectoral reasons, some supply constraints," Chandrasekhar told a news conference.

Some analysts have pegged capacity constraints in the rapidly expanding economy as the main reason for a surge in non-food inflation, pointing out a slowdown in May industrial output, despite robust domestic consumer demand.

Further, expansion in the M3 money supply, the broadest measure of liquidity in the system, has just picked up after slowing down since the year began and lags credit expansion.

RBI offers 600 bn rupees at special repo

The Reserve Bank of India said it would conduct a special repo auction for 600 billion rupees on Monday. The reversal of the auction will be on May 18, it said in a statement.

The special repo facility was introduced on Oct. 14, 2008 on a daily basis, offering 200 billion rupees to meet liquidity needs of mutual funds.

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The central bank later increased the facility to 600 billion rupees to include liquidity needs of non-banking financial companies and housing finance companies. At its policy review on April 21, the central bank said the auction will be conducted on a weekly basis every Monday till March 2010.

posted under - RBI updates, indian economy updates, Reserve Bank of India, RBI, 

RBI extends concessional credit to exporters till Oct 31

(28/4/2009 - RBI news) - Providing relief to exporters hit by shrinking global demand, the Reserve Bank on Tuesday extended the concessional interest rate scheme by six months till October this year.

The ceiling of interest rate on pre-shipment rupee export credit up to 270 days and post-shipment credit up to 180 days at BPLR minus 2.5 per cent was to expire on April 30, 2009.

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"It has been decided to extend the validity ... up to October 31, 2009," the RBI said in a circular to the scheduled commercial banks.

Since these are ceiling rates, banks would not be able to charge exporters interest rates above the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) minus 2.5 per cent.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations has been demanding that exporters should be given credit at 7 per cent without linking with the prime lending rate.

The exporters has been hit by recession in major markets of the US, Europe and the Middle East, which together accounts to over 70 per cent of India's overseas sales.

posted under - RBI updates, reserve bank of india, RBI news, exporters credit

Indian Inc's overseas investment slips 11 percent - RBI

(23/4 Indian Economy updates -the slowdown effect) - Facing the pangs of slowdown, India Inc appears to have restrained from overseas mergers and acquisitions as the country's foreign investment slipped by over 11 per cent during April-December 2008, says Reserve Bank.

"During the first nine months of 2008-09, 2,828 proposals amounting to $16,352 million were cleared for investments abroad in JVs (joint ventures) and WOSs (wholly owned subsidiaries), as against 1,595 proposals amounting to $18,437 million during the corresponding period of the previous year," the central bank said in its April Bulletin.

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Even though the number of proposals recorded an increase of 77.3 per cent, amount invested by India Inc on overseas ventures dipped by over 11 per cent during the period.

There were a total of 2,828 proposals during the first nine months of 2008-09 against 1,595 proposals in the corresponding period previous year.

"During the quarter, October-December 2008, proposals amounting to $7,409 million were cleared for investments abroad in JVs and WOSs, as against $7,882 million during October-December 2007, the RBI said.

posted under - RBI updates, economic updates, economy of india, indian economy slowdown, slowing economy, asian economies, indian rupee, economy of india

Indian Forex reserves at USD 252 billion

(20/4/2009 Indian Economy updates) - India's foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 252 billion as of end-March, declining by USD 57.7 billion over the previous year, the Reserve Bank said on Monday.

The RBI said in its Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments in 2008-09 said, the overall approach to the management of India's foreign exchange reserves in recent years reflects the changing composition of the balance of payments and the 'liquidity risks' associated with different types of flows and other requirements.

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"Taking these factors into account, India's foreign exchange reserves continued to be at a level consistent with the rate of growth, the size of the external sector in the economy and the size of risk-adjusted capital flows," RBI said.

posted under - economy of india, indian economy updates, indian forex reserves, RBI updates, indian economy blog, economy of india updates, forex updates, india forex reserves

ग्रोथ ओवर ८ परसेंट सुस्तैनाब्ले - RBI

The Reserve Bank of India expects the economy's growth rate to bounce back above 8 per cent once the current global economic and financial turmoil passes, Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan said today.

"Our overall assessment is still an 8 per cent-plus growth is sustainable in the medium term. We can expect to come back to 8 per cent-plus growth once this interregnum is over," Mohan told a news conference.

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The government expects the economy to grow about 7 per cent in the fiscal year that ends on March 31, well below rates of 9 per cent or more in the previous three fiscal years.

Mohan said India would be cautious in moving towards fuller capital account convertibility for the rupee currency.

"We have also looked at the fuller capital account convertibility and concluded its desirable, but we need to move with caution," he concluded.

posted under - RBI updates, Indian Economy updates, economy oeconomy, recession and indian economy, economy of india, india economy

Reserve Bank to cut Interest rates even more

Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) could cut interest rates by another 150 basis points by mid-2009 as authorities fight to prop up sagging growth, but the central Rates bank is unlikely to seek zero rates like the United States and Japan even as deflation rears its head.

The Reserve Bank of India cut interest rates on Friday for the fourth time since the global financial crisis blew up in September, taking the total reduction in its key lending rate or the repo rate to 350 points. It now stands at 5.50 percent.

Other central banks have slashed rates heavily too to fight off the deepest global financial crisis in decades. The US Federal Reserve and Japan have cut their rates close to zero, sparking debate on how far central banks will have to go to revive their economies.


posted under - RBI updates, Reserve Bank of India, Indian Interest Rates, Indian Economy, Economy under recession, Indian Economy updates
source- www.economictimes.com

RBI cuts rate further - will economy be boosted??

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday cut key policy rates. The repo and the reserve repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility RBI has been cut by 100 basis points while cash reserve ratio (CRR) has been reduced by 50 bps.

Following this move, reverse repo stands at 4%, repo stands at 5.5% and CRR now stands at 5%. The cut in CRR will infuse Rs 20,000 crore in the system.

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The market had widely expected RBI to cut the key lending rates. The cut in repo and reserve repo is with immediate effect while CRR cut will be effective from fortnight beginning January 17. Since August RBI cut CRR by 450 basis.

Repo rate is the rate at which banks borrow from RBI while the reverse repo is the rate which RBI gives banks for parking their surplus funds. These two rates are seen as the floor and the cap for daily call money movement.

The decisions would among other things infuse Rs 20,000 crore into the banking system.

Both reductions are effective immediately. The repo rate has been cut aggressively since mid-October last year as the central bank tried to minimise the knock-on effects of the global financial crisis.

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posted under - RBI updates, effect of recession on india, indian economy, economy of india, india economy updates, Reserve bank of india, Indian economy updates, indian rupee updates

RBI - Finances to deteriorate further

With the government coming out with financial incentives for the industry, the Reserve Bank has said central finances will further deteriorate during the second-half of the year on account of the impact of financial turmoil on the Indian economy.

"While expenditure is slated to increase in the coming months, growth of tax revenue is likely to decelerate with the expected moderation in real economic activities following the global financial meltdown," RBI said in its monthly bulletin.

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"Finances in the first-half indicate deterioration in all key deficit indicators, both in the absolute term as well as per centage of GDP," it said, adding the "pressure" on deficit indicators would continue during the remaining part of 2008-09.

The government has come out with a fiscal stimulus package of over Rs 30,000 crore which will have an adverse bearing on central finances. This will be an addition to over Rs 1 lakh crore the government has sought during the first batch of supplementary demands for grants raising the government expenditures.

With the industrial production as well as exports recording a negative growth of 0.4 per cent and 12.1 per cent respectively in October, the government may come out with the second stimulus package increasing further pressure on finances.

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Referring to the performance of the first half, the RBI report said, "As per cent of the Budget estimates, both revenue deficits and fiscal deficits were higher mainly due to rise in revenue expenditure, both non-plan and plan."

RBI has already indicated that it would review the economic growth estimate at its quarterly monetary policy to be announced on January 27.

posted under - dwindling indian economy, economy of india, indian economy updates, indian finance updates, RBI updates, recession updates

with extracts from www.economictimes.com

RBI cuts repo rate by 100 bps

The Reserve Bank of India on Saturday cut the repo rate - the rate at which RBI lends to banks - by 100 basis points to 6.5 per cent from 7.5 per cent and reverse repo - the rate at which banks park excess funds with RBI - by 100 basis points to 5 per cent from 6 per cent, effective from December 8.

However it has kept cash reserve ration (CRR) - the proportion of deposits banks must keep with the central bank - unchanged at 5.5 per cent. The 6.5 per cent repo rate is the lowest rate in 2-1/2 years, while the 5 per cent reverse repo rate is its lowest in more than three years.

The RBI has taken the steps to boost growth and shore up investor confidence amid signs of economic slowdown and in the wake of deadly attacks in Mumbai.

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"Industrial activity, particularly in the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, is decelerating," RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao told a news conference.

Subbarao said the central bank would closely monitor developments in global and domestic financial markets and would take swift and effective action as appropriate.

"The Reserve Bank's policy endeavour will be to minimise the negative impact of the crisis and to ensure an orderly adjustment," he said.

Saturday's decision was the first change in the reverse repo rate since July 2006.

The cash reserve ratio, the proportion of deposits banks must keep with the central bank, was left unchanged at 5.5 per cent.

Expectations of rate reductions have mounted ever since last week's attacks in Mumbai in which gunmen brought the business district to a standstill as they holed up in two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, killing 171 people.

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The benchmark 10-year bond yield fell 8 basis points to 6.76 per cent on Friday ahead of the central bank's decision, which had been well flagged by government officials, and the rupee gained against the dollar.

The government is also expected to announce fiscal measures to give impetus to the economy, which data show may be decelerating more rapidly than anticipated from an annual rate of 9 per cent in the fiscal year which ended last March.