MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided not to increase the repo rate. Delivering the bimonthly Monetary Policy Statement, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided unanimously to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent.
Earlier, RBI had increased the repo rate six times in a row. Before today’s RBI decision, experts were speculating that the repo rate could be increased by 25 basis points i.e. 0.25%. This is because recently all the central banks of the world including Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England had increased the interest rates. RBI Governor said the central bank has not made any change in the policy rate to maintain the ongoing recovery in the economy, but if needed, it will take the necessary steps. India’s economy remains strong amid all the global tensions.
Regarding the rupee, the RBI governor said that the movement of the rupee has been very systematic in 2022 and it is expected to remain intact in 2023 as well. This is reflective of the strength of domestic macroeconomic fundamentals and the resilience of the Indian economy to global spillovers. Foreign exchange reserves have rebounded from US$ 524.5 billion on October 21, 2022 and now stand in excess of US$ 600 billion. He said that maintaining the stability and strength of the rupee is the constant focus of the RBI.
The RBI Governor informed that a secured web based centralised portal named as ‘PRAVAAH’ (Platform for Regulatory Application, Validation And Authorisation) will be developed, to enable entities to apply for license / authorisation or regulatory approvals from the Reserve Bank. The Governor informed that the portal will show time limits for deciding on the applications/approvals sought. This measure will bring greater efficiencies into regulatory processes and facilitate ease of doing business for the regulated entities of the Reserve Bank.
The Governor noted that in order to improve and widen the access of depositors / beneficiaries to information on unclaimed deposits, it has been decided to develop a web portal to enable search across multiple banks for possible unclaimed deposits. This will help depositors/beneficiaries in getting back unclaimed deposits, said the Governor.
The Governor announced that it has now been decided to expand the scope of UPI by permitting operation of pre-sanctioned credit lines at banks through the UPI.
