Finally, the BJP-led central government is going to give big relief to people. A big announcement was made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has advocated reducing the interest rate. On Monday, she said that the interest rates of banks should be cheaper. The cost of borrowing is very stressful at the moment. And when we want the industry to increase its capacity and accelerate manufacturing, bank interest rates have to be more affordable. The Finance Minister said this in the 11th edition of SBI Banking and Economy Summit 2024.
What are the RBI’s interest rates and the central bank’s stance?
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) repo rate is currently at 6.50%. The central bank has kept interest rates stable at this level since the last 10 monetary policies. In October, the RBI changed its stance in monetary policy from ‘withdrawal of accommodation’ to ‘neutral’. Last week, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that the RBI should “definitely cut interest rates.” To this, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das replied that he would “reserve” comments on it for the upcoming December monetary policy.
What did the Finance Minister say on inflation?
On current inflation rates, Sitharaman said the top three perishable items (onion, tomato, and potato) are influencing inflation numbers, while the data for other items is below four or three percent.
She says, “India is impacted by an adequate supply of perishable food items from time to time. The government is making efforts for scientific and more robust storage facilities. Unless this problem is solved, this problem will come up again and again.”
