Bizcues.com

Reserve Bank of India has hiked the cash reserve ratio of banks by another 25 basis points taking it to 8.25 per cent. The hike in CRR comes into effect from the fortnight beginning May 24.

The central bank has kept the repo rate and reverse repo rate unchanged at 7.75 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively. It has also held the Bank Rate steady at 6.0 per cent.

In the Annual Policy Statement for 2008-09, Governor YV Reddy has given high priority to price stability, anchoring inflation expectations and orderly conditions in financial markets.

RBI aims to bring down inflation to around 5.5 per cent in 2008-09, bringing it close to 5.0 per cent as soon as possible. Going forward, the resolve is to condition policy and perceptions for inflation in the range of 4.0-4.5 per cent, so that an inflation rate of around 3.0 per cent becomes a medium-term objective.

The central bank has projected GDP growth for 2008-09 in the range of 8.0- 8.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, investors cheered the credit policy decision and India’s benchmark Sensex ended 352 pts in the green, almost 2.1 % up, ending at 17,368.28. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty surged 2.05 per cent or 104 points to close at 5193.90.

No comments »

Inflation eased off a bit and was seen at 7.19 pc on April 5 compared to the previous week’s 7.41 per cent. Inflation figures for a particular week are generally announced on Fridays, but Friday being a public holiday, the figure was announced earlier this week.

Continue Reading»

No comments »