RBI not done with easing, to cut in October and early next year: Report

Agencies
August 9, 2019

Bengaluru, Aug 9: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will cut interest rates again at its October meeting, making it the fifth in a row, according to economists in a Reuters poll who said the central bank’s decision to ease by 35 basis points on Wednesday was right.

While a survey taken ahead of August’s meeting showed a 25 basis points rate cut was a done deal, the RBI was expected to keep rates unchanged for the rest of this year.

However, a more recent Reuters poll, conducted August 7-8, predicted the RBI would ease its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.15 per cent in October. If it does cut again as forecast it would be a repeat of a cutting spree last seen in 2000-01.

After the expected October cut, the RBI is then forecast to ease by 15 basis points to a near decade low of 5.00 per cent in the first quarter of next year, although much depends on global conditions.

“India is amidst an economic and financial slowdown with minimal support from fiscal policy. The responsibility is being borne by monetary policy but more is needed at this front,” said Shobana Krishnan, chief economist at Edelweiss.

“Traditional parameters of growth and inflation are far from showing any near term pickup. Therefore, we believe the case for another 50 basis points cut in fiscal year 2020 is justified.”

The central bank cut rates by 35 basis points to 5.40 per cent this week but maintained its “accommodative” policy stance, signalling further easing on concerns about weak economic growth and subdued inflation.

If the RBI does cut rates in October and early next year it will be the most aggressive amongst major central banks in easing policy.

The RBI lowered its economic growth forecast for the current fiscal year on Wednesday and said inflation would not breach its medium-term target of 4 per cent in the near-term.

However, the benefits of the RBI’s easing this year have not been completely transmitted to borrowers.

“The transmission of rate cuts has been fairly weak so far,” said Rini Sen, India economist at ANZ. “Bank lending rates have not moved in tandem with the repo rate, which raises doubts over how much of this easing eventually trickles down to the real economy.”

When asked if the RBI’s decision to not cut interest rates in a multiple of 25 basis points was right, over 85 per cent of 45 economists said “yes”.

That supported Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that a 25 basis points cut would have been “inadequate in view of the evolving global and domestic macro-economic” conditions, while a 50 basis points cut was seen as potentially “excessive.”

“In an environment of prolonged stress, unconventional policy easing is likely to be growth supportive in our view,” said Shashank Mendiratta, economist at IBM.

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: The budget is a little more demanding of the non-resident Indian. Firstly, to be categorized a non-resident, an Indian now has to stay abroad for 240 days, against 182 previously. In other words, an Indian national, to claim the non-resident status, can’t stay in India for 120 days or more in a year.

“We've made changes in Income Tax Act where if an Indian citizen stays out of the country for more than 182 days, he becomes non-resident,” said Revenue Secy Ajay Bhushan Pandey. “Now in order to become non-resident, he has to stay out of the country for 240 days.”

The second rule is more deadly: a non-resident Indian, who is not taxed in the foreign country, will become taxable in India.

“If any Indian citizen is not a resident of any country in the world, he'll be deemed to be a resident of India and his worldwide income will be taxed,” said Pandey.

"It's a very big disadvantage for Indians residing overseas only to save on tax,"  said Dinesh Kanabar of Dhruva Advisors. He expects that many Indians stay abroad in countries, where the income tax is low or nil such as Dubai. Now they will be taxed in India if they are in the income tax bracket.

For Indians, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman revised income tax rats and proposed new tax slabs.

The new income tax rates will, however, not allow exemptions under Section 80C. Home loan exemption, insurance exemptions, the standard deduction will also not stay under the regime.

"The new tax regime will be optional and the taxpayers will be given the choice to either remain in the old regime with exemptions and deductions or opt for the new reduced tax rate without those exemptions," Sitharaman said while unveiling Budget.

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Kannadiga
 - 
Saturday, 1 Feb 2020

Good news NRIs vote for modi . 

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News Network
February 25,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 25: Infosys is all set to announce a cyber defence centre in Indianapolis to complement its technology and innovation centre inaugurated early last year.

This will be Infosys' seventh global cyber defence centre. According to its recent cybersecurity report titled 'Assuring Digital Trust,' 83 per cent of executives view cybersecurity as critical, yet 67 per cent are still struggling to have security embedded.

The cyber defence centre will provide end-to-end, real-time, 24x7 cyber security monitoring and protection services to support and guide American businesses in their digital transformation journey, it said.

The facility is dedicated and organised to prevent, detect, assess and respond to cybersecurity threats and breaches.

Client environment will be monitored round the clock, adopting a follow-the-sun model to deliver services like 24x7 security monitoring, management and remediation, threat hunting, security analytics, incident discovery and response, compliance reporting and malware analysis.

Vishal Salvi, Chief Information Security Officer and Head of Cyber Security Practice at Infosys, said the cyber defence centre is staffed with expert security analysts with niche skills around threat research and intelligence gathering to deliver best-in-class services to customers.

"Additionally, advanced data analytics and machine learning models are deployed to detect zero-day threats by unknown threat actors. This supports our commitment to helping our customers build a resilient cybersecurity programme that operates at scale while increasing operational efficiency and reducing costs," he said in a statement.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 13: In the wake of coronavirus outbreak, Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa has summoned an emergency meeting with ministers and senior officials on Friday to discuss the situation.

The schools, malls and other public places have been shut to control the spread of the deadly virus.

Schools in the state have announced early summer vacation for their students this academic year as a precautionary measure amid Covid-19 scare.

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