Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank, said on Wednesday that he does not have the authority to change the policy rates since he is personally influenced by the circumstances on the ground.
The Reserve Bank unexpectedly struck the stop button in April and chose to retain the important benchmark policy rate at 6.5 percent.
Prior to it, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been rising interest rates nonstop since May 2022, boosting the repo rate by 250 basis points.
At a CII-sponsored event, Das said that there is a possibility that the RBI would postpone its next monetary policy meetings.
“I can't control it. Everything is dependent on the actual circumstance. What is occurring on the ground is what motivates me. What is the situation locally? What patterns are there? How is the inflation escalating or softening? So everything is there.
Since I am motivated by what is occurring on the ground, the choice is not fully in my control. In light of that, the Governor responded, “I guess I will leave it at that.
The governor said that while retail inflation has eased, there is still no need to get complacent.
He predicts that the subsequent inflation reading will be less than 4.7%. Based on the consumer price index, there was 4.7 inflation in April.
Das also gave the crowd assurances that the Indian banking sector is robust and stable due to its high capital, consistent liquidity, and rising asset quality.
The Governor said that “RBI will continue to be proactive and prudent and will do its best to support the economy to maintain financial stability of India.”
He also let the group know that, in light of the early results, the RBI is fine-tuning the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) design.
