IIP far too dismal on waning business confidence: PN Vijay

It is not new that investment sentiment is down in India. But nobody probably expected such a shockingly dismal industry output number in July. The industrial production number (IIP) came off more than 5.5% on a monthly basis, at 3.3% in July against expectations of 6.1%. Manufacturing output fell 8.5% year-on-year to a measly 2.3%. In such a scenario of slowing industrial growth, concerns are ripe whether RBI's intentions are misplaced when it comes to monetary policy moves.

PN Vijay, portfolio manager, pnvijay.com joins CNBC-TV18 to give his reaction to the July IIP numbers and opine on what he expects of the upcoming RBI meet. "Everybody wants to invest, but they are totally put-off by what they feel is absolutely a blinker-approach of RBI on interest rates," he says.
Nonetheless, Vijay is positive on banks now on hopes that Subbarao might call it a day, pausing the rate hike cycle this time. Below is the edited transcript of his interview. Q: What have you made of the July IIP number? What do you expect from the RBI?
A: The number is definitely shocking though the consensus had a fixed percent plus. Over the last ten days, one could see that the confidence level among the business community is very low. It is far worse than even 2008 and 2009; it