As widely expected, the Reserve Bank of India announced a cut to its policy interest rate last week. We expect that monetary policy will likely stay accommodative in order to support growth going forward.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut its policy interest rate (RBI repo rate) by 25 basis points (bps) last week, bringing it down to 6.0%. This was the RBI’s second interest rate cut this year under its new governor Shaktikanta Das. With this move, the RBI has fully reversed last year’s rate...
Read More »Exit of central bank head adds to Indian market uncertainties
The surprise resignation of governor of the Reserve Bank of India poses a question mark over its policies and independence ahead of next year’s election.Urjit R. Patel, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), unexpectedly resigned on 10 December, just four days before a crucial board meeting on discuss internal governance issues.His resignation came amid a period of acute tension between the RBI and the Indian government over a range of issues, from banking regulations and the use...
Read More »Indian Q3 growth numbers disappoint
But leading indicators point to Q4 rebound.Indian GDP in Q3 2018 rose 7.1% year-over-year (y-o-y) in real terms, down from 8.2% in Q2 and significantly below the consensus and our own forecasts of 7.5%. As a result, we have revise down our fiscal year (FY) 2018-2019 GDP forecast for India to 7.2% from 7.6% previously. Our forecast for FY 2019-2020 remains the same, however.In our view, external headwinds, specially surging oil prices, were the main reasons for the downturn in Q3, but...
Read More »Indian growth beats expectations
Fading policy headwinds has been helping growth numbers, but external factors are expected to weigh on growth in the near future.Indian GDP came in strongly in Q2, expanding 1.9% quarter-over-quarter and 8.2% year-over-year (y-o-y), beating both the consensus and our own forecast. These numbers put India easily at the top of G20 countries in terms of GDP growth. As a result, we are revising our Indian GDP forecast for fiscal year 25018-2019 slightly upwards to 7.6% from 7.5%.The acceleration...
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