SME Times News Bureau | 22 Mar, 2019
Global
rating agency Fitch Ratings on Friday cut India's GDP growth rate projection
for the next financial year to 6.8 per cent, from its previous estimate of 7
per cent.
Fitch
Rating cited weaker-than-expected growth momentum as the reason behind this
growth forecast.
"While
we have cut our growth forecasts for the next fiscal year on weaker-than-expected
momentum, we still see Indian GDP growth to hold up reasonably well, at 6.8 per
cent, followed by 7.1 per cent in FY21." the Fitch report said.
It added
that India’s weaker momentum has been mainly domestically driven.
Fitch
said credit availability has tightened in areas heavily dependent on non-bank
financial company (NBFC) credit such as automobiles and two-wheelers, where
sales have dropped.
The US rating agency said it has also changed outlook on the Reserve Bank of India's
monetary policy review, projecting another interest rate cut of 25 basis points
(bps) in 2019 owing to inflation staying below the target and easier global
monetary conditions.
"Further capital injections and a looser regulatory stance of the RBI have
eased (though not removed) the state banks' capital constraints, while the
central bank has raised the limit on collateral-free loans that banks can make
to farmers (by 60 per cent), helping prevent a decline in bank lending,"
the report said.
"The RBI has adopted a more dovish monetary policy stance and cut interest
rates by 25 bps at its February 2019 meeting, a move supported by steadily
decelerating headline inflation."
On the fiscal side, the budget for financial year 2019-10 plans to increase
cash transfers for farmers, the rating agency said.
"Our benign oil price outlook and our expectations of accelerating food
prices in the coming months should support rural households' income and
consumption," it added.