|
|
RBI may cut rates early next year, says Rangarajan
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
SME Times News Bureau | 19 Dec, 2014
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may cut rates early next year, said C.
Rangarajan, former chairman of the prime minister's Economic Advisory
Council.
He said the central bank may go for the rate cut as price situation is showing improvement.
"The
price situation is showing definite improvement. I expect probably
changes will come in the early part of next year. It could happen
anytime as indicated by the recent policy statement," he told reporters
here Thursday on the sidelines of an event.
The former RBI
governor, however, cautioned that volatility in the currency markets
should also be taken into consideration before taking any policy
decision.
Asked about Current Account Deficit (CAD), he said it
could be in the same range of last year even though fall in oil prices
is going to benefit the country in reducing the import bills.
"The
initial expectation was, because of the fall in oil prices the CAD may
be even lower than the last year. But because of the pickup of the gold
imports and all that, I expect the CAD to be the same as the last
year... something like 1.75 percent of the gross domestic product
(GDP)," he said.
The noted economist believes the impact on the CAD will be beneficial as a result of fall in oil prices.
He
said until the oil prices settle down, there could be some volatility
and uncertainty in the markets as the fall in oil prices will adversely
affect the major oil producers but all the net oil importing countries
will benefit as a consequent of this fall.
"The only negative
impact can come in terms of our people going abroad in the Middle East
if the oil income comes down in those countries," he said.
Rangarajan does not expect any drastic reversal of gold import policy by the government.
Earlier
addressing an international conference on information systems security
at the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology
(IDRBT), Rangarajan said a well structured cyber crime can be a threat
to a nation's security and economy.
He called upon the banking
industry to take appropriate actions to make our systems safe, adopt
appropriate early warning systems and evolve measures to respond quickly
to cyber attacks.
"In the olden days to destroy an economy, one
of the standard methods adopted by enemy countries is to inject fake
currency into the economy...Modern day cyber crimes are even more
dangerous. They can destroy the banking systems or the communications
systems in the country," Rangarajan added.
He said with over 500
million bank accounts in the country, it is estimated that the Indian
banking system produces over one billion transactions a day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|