The Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said on March 21 that the central bank has taken necessary measures to cope with the adversities arising due to COVID-19 and ensured the market functioned normally, be it the money or the forex market.
Addressing the media at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Council Meeting, Das said, "Be it coping with the geopolitical tensions or COVID situations, our approach has always been going beyond the rule book. Our focus was to reduce the cost of money. So, we cut the repo rate by 75 basis points. Soon we found the financial market to be freezing, so announced liquidity measures."
Das further said since the pandemic hit the economy in March 2020, the central bank has pumped in a whopping Rs 17 lakh crore into the system and assured the industry that the RBI will continue to ensure that the economy is well oiled with funds.
As regards the current economic situation given geopolitical tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic, the governor said it won’t be the right time to comment on the monetary policy as the situation may change in a few days.
Commenting on banks, Das said that the lenders at the system level are in better health now with the capital adequacy ratio at 16 percent, and gross NPAs falling to a record low of 6.5 percent. He said despite the headwinds arising from the Russia-Ukraine war, the economy is better placed given the high forex reserves and low current account gap.
With inputs from PTI.
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