Mumbai, Mar 27: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday lowered the key repo rate by 75 basis points to 4.4 per cent in a bid to arrest the economic slowdown amid coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
The reverse repo rate now stands at 4 per cent, down by 90 basis points, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das adding this has been done to make it unattractive for banks to passively deposit funds with the central bank and instead lend it to the productive sectors.
The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) met on March 24, 25 and 27 and voted 4:2 in favour of the repo rate reduction. The MPC also decided to continue with the accommodative stance as long as it is necessary to revive growth and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy while ensuring that inflation remains within the target.
"The need of the hour is to shield the economy from the pandemic," said Das. "We need to mitigate the impact of coronavirus, revive economic growth and provide financial stability."
Repo rate is the rate at which a country's central bank lends money to commercial banks, and the reverse repo rate is the rate at which it borrows from them.
The RBI Governor further said that the economic growth and inflation projection will be highly contingent depending on the duration, spread and intensity of the pandemic.
"Global economic activity has come to a near standstill as COVID-19 related lockdowns and social distancing are imposed across a widening swathe of affected countries. Expectations of a shallow recovery in 2020 from 2019's decade low in global growth have been dashed," said Das.
"The outlook is now heavily contingent upon the intensity, spread and duration of the pandemic. There is a rising probability that large parts of the global economy will slip into recession," he said.
However, the RBI has injected liquidity of Rs 2.8 lakh crore via various instruments equal to 1.4 per cent of GDP. "Along with today's measures, liquidity measures equal to 3.2 per cent of GDP. The RBI will take continuous measures to ensure liquidity in the system."
The RBI governor has said that all banking institutions can offer a three-month moratorium on all loans for a period of three months. The RBI has also allowed banks to restructure the working capital cycle for companies without worrying that these will have to be classified as a non-performing asset (NPA).
The three-month moratorium will permit banks to avoid a large onset of NPAs during the 21-day lockdown and keep their books healthy.
Das said banks and other financial institutions should do all they can to keep credit flowing to economic agents facing financial stress on account of the isolation that the virus has imposed.
"Market participants should work with regulators like the RBI and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to ensure the orderly functioning of markets in their role of price discovery and financial intermediation," he said.
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RBI reduces repo rate by 75 basis points to battle COVID-19 impact
News Network
March 27, 2020
Walmart sacks around 50 executives in India restructuring: sources
News Network
January 13,2020
New Delhi, Jan 13: Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has fired around 50 of its India executives as part of its restructuring in the country, three sources with direct knowledge said.
The move underscores the struggles Walmart has faced in expanding its wholesale business in India. The Bentonville, Arkansas based company currently operates 28 wholesale stores where it sells goods to small shopkeepers, and not to retail consumers.
The firings mostly affected executives in the company’s real estate division because the growth in the wholesale model has not been that robust, two of the sources said.
“It’s happening because focus is shifting to e-commerce rather than physical (stores),” said one source, who declined to be identified as the decision is not public.
Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.
Walmart has placed bold bets on India’s e-commerce sector. In 2018, it paid $16 billion to acquire a majority stake in India’s online marketplace Flipkart, in its biggest global acquisition.
The second source added that while Walmart could slow down the pace of opening new wholesale stores, the focus will increasingly be on boosting sales through business-to-business and retail e-commerce.
Some of the executives were sacked last week and more could be let go on Monday, two sources said.
In a statement to India’s Economic Times newspaper, which first reported the news, Walmart said it was always looking for ways to operate more effectively and that “this requires us to review our corporate structure to ensure that we are organized in the right way to best meet the needs of our members.”
Walmart has around 600 staff in its India head office out of a total of around 5,300 nationally, one of the sources said.
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1 Indian killed, 4 injured in firing by Nepal police along international border
News Network
June 12,2020
An Indian national was killed and four others injured in alleged firing by Nepal police personnel along the India-Nepal border in Bihar's Sitamarhi district today.
Sources said the firing took place after a clash between the Indians and personnel of Nepal police at the Lalbandi-Janki Nagar border in Pipra Parsain panchayat under Sonebarsha police station of the district.
Jitendra Kumar, the additional director general of police (headquarters), confirmed the death and injuries. The place of firing falls under Nepal jurisdiction.
Locals said Vikesh Kumar Rai, 25, died on the spot and Umesh Ram and Uday Thakur received bullet injuries when they were working in an agricultural field. Another person, Lagan Rai, is said to have been detained by the Nepali police.
Injured persons were rushed to Sitamarhi Sadar Hospital for better treatment.
Vikesh Kumar Rai’s father, Nageshwar Rai, said that his agriculture land falls under Narayanpur in Nepal where his son was working.
On May 17, Nepal police had fired blank rounds to disperse dozens of Indians trying to cross the border. It was not clear if they were also farmers.
The district magistrate and the superintendent of police of Sitamarhi have rushed to the spot.
Nepal shares a 1,850-kilometre (1,150-mile) open border with India and people travel across it for work and to visit family. It had closed its international borders on March 22 amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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979 confirmed COVID-19 cases in India, says Health Ministry
News Network
March 29,2020
New Delhi, Mar 29: The total confirmed coronavirus cases in India rose to 979, including 48 foreigners, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.
There are 867 active cases of the disease as of Sunday, out of the total confirmed cases, while 87 persons have also been cured and discharged or migrated.
The number of deaths due to the infection rose to 25.
Maharashtra and Kerala, with 186 and 182 cases, have two of the highest number of positive cases in the country, with Maharashtra also recording six deaths due to the disease.
The Central government has taken many stringent measures to prevent the further spread of the disease with a 21-day nationwide lockdown being imposed.
The disease which originated from Wuhan, China has so far close to 6 lakh reported cases from around the world with more than 25 thousand deaths being reported due to it, as per World Health Organisation on March 28.
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