Views of by Mr. George Alexander Muthoot, MD, Muthoot Finance

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

“In line with our expectations, the RBI announced a hike in the repo rate by 50bps to 5.4% and retained its policy stance at ‘withdrawal of accommodation’. This is the third consecutive hike in repo rate, in order to tame inflationary expectations. The challenges on the global macro front continue to persist with high crude oil prices, protracted geopolitical tensions, upsurge in global financial market volatility and tightening global financial conditions. Amidst this,the RBI retained its FY23 GDP forecast at 7.2%, given that there has been ample amount of broadening in India’s economic activity and several factors pointing towards strengthening of urban demand. However, the rural demand is yet to revive fully and we will be watchful of the same. One significant development proposed by the RBI is to enable Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) to accept cross-border inward bill payments. We believe this will help entities with cross border remittance licenses like us enable easy payments from NRIs who otherwise have been facing challenges in utility bill payments on behalf of their families in India. The RBI remains committed towards maintaining price and financial stability and we believe that despite macro headwinds, the Indian economy has been fairly resilient. This keeps us optimistic that both urban and rural demand for gold loans will hold steady for FY23.