FinMin, RBI to announce steps soon: Pranab Mukherjee

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said his ministry and the Reserve Bank will soon announce certain steps, as investors await the measures that are expected to check rupee slide and improve markets. "I think notifications are going to be issued. In morning I discussed (those) with Secretary, Economic Affaris R Gopalan. They are going to issue circular...RBI is going to issue the circular," he told reporters here. He said that there were discussions with the RBI Governor D Subbarao also in this regard last week. The sharp decline in rupee against the US dollar is a cause of concern and there are expectation that steps would be announced to boost the domestic currency.

The rupee, however recovered 71 paise against the dollar at 56.44 in early trade today on selling of American currency by banks amid expectations that RBI may announce steps to boost the local currency. The economic growth has also fallen to a nine-year low of 6.5% in 2011-12 and industrial output continues to be sluggish with a mere 0.1% growth in April. Inflation too remained at an elevated level of 7.55% in May. The measures would be announced on a day when global agency Moody's has retained outlook on India's rating at stable despite slowdown in GDP growth rate, saying that it is unlikely to be even a medium-term feature.