RBI Monetary Policy: Views by Mr. George Alexander Muthoot, MD, Muthoot Finance

Quote by Mr. George Alexander Muthoot, MD, Muthoot Finance

“Given the backdrop of continued geopolitical challenges on the global front, it is heartening to see RBI’s outlook on the Indian economy remaining resilient and drawing strength from strong macroeconomic fundamentals. With the world economy still marked by shocks, the RBI has announced the fifth consecutive hike in repo rate with an increase of 35 bps to 6.25%, along with a focused stance on withdrawal of accommodation. In line with our expectations, the RBI governor further retained the inflation projection at 6.7%, and lowered the FY23 GDP forecast to 6.8% from 7% earlier. However, driving the confidence from recovery seen in rural demand and rise in urban consumption, resilience in the agricultural sector, improvement in consumer confidence, traction in investment activity, we are optimistic about the broadening of economic activities which bodes well for demand for gold loans and pick-up in demand for credit. With rural demand recovering and strong improved consumer confidence, we believe that we will continue to witness the stability in gold loan demand and revival of credit demand. The RBI announcement on enhancing UPI by introducing a single-block-and-multiple-debits functionality will further lead to ease of making payments in e-commerce space and ease of making payments for investment in securities. Also, enhanced scope of Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) will deepen the access for individuals and businesses leading to faster access of funds and improved efficiency.”