RBI Should Look Into Interest Rates: Jayant Sinha

[Editor: With INR depreciating Vs the US, it could be disastrous if the RBI goes for further Repo rate cut, unless the former stabilizes. Narendra Modi government has brought India to the brink of deflation. Now, it would be very tough to revive demand once again, unless the Finmin, works very hard. Moreover, inspite of all the hypes regarding Mr.Sinha being "...an ardent student of fund management, investments and contemporary economics" his gestures seems to be "Starkly Mediocre". In fact Narendra Modi's government is a "Parade of Mediocrity", only]

Kolkata, April 25, 2015:  Maintaining that higher borrowings by individuals will lead to purchase-led growth, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha on Saturday said interest rates should fall and hopefully the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will look into that.

"Interest rates should fall so that higher borrowings will lead to more purchases of articles and RBI should look into that aspect," Mr Sinha said at an interaction organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here.

"RBI is a very professional data-driven organisation and they would obviously look at the facts before taking any decision," the minister told reporters when asked specifically whether the central bank should cut rates.

"So, let us see how the data play out," he said with a cautious tone, clarifying that a rate cut was not imperative for restarting stalled projects.

Referring to branching out public debt management from the ambit of the RBI, Mr Sinha said there had been a lot of resistance from the central bank's officers and employees.

"Worldwide, public debt was being managed by an outside entity and not the central bank. But RBI was doing a very fine job... When you are reforming, you can expect opposition. Even the RBI Governor feels strongly about creation of a separate public debt management body," Mr Sinha added.

On public sector banks, he said the Finance Bill of 2015 has provided for opening up the posts of chairman and managing director of public sector banks to experienced professionals from private banks who would be given market-linked salaries.

The government will also create a banking investment company which will hold government shares, he said.

The department of financial services of the Finance Ministry will also be stripped of the power by creation of a banking bureau, which will carry out the function of appointment, strategy and capitalisation of public sector banks, Mr Sinha said.

Courtesy: NDTV Profit