Earlier this morning, the RBI cut the reverse repo rate and announced a slew of measures including re-finance window of Rs 50,000 crore and targeted long term repo auction of similar amount to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
INDIA Updated: Apr 17, 2020 14:43 IST
HT Correspondent
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday hailed the steps taken by the Reserve Bank of India and said it will “greatly enhance liquidity” and help lift the farmers and the poor.
“Today’s announcements by @RBIwill greatly enhance liquidity and improve credit supply. These steps would help our small businesses, MSMEs, farmers and the poor. It will also help all states by increasing WMA limits,” tweeted PM Modi, shortly after the RBI governor’s address.
Earlier this morning, the RBI cut the reverse repo rate and announced a slew of measures including re-finance window of Rs 50,000 crore and targeted long term repo auction of similar amount to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Das assured that the RBI will use all instruments at its disposal to deal with the challenges posed by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, depending on the evolving situation.
Also Watch l RBI cuts reverse repo rate by 25 bps, expects 7.4% GDP growth in 2021-22
Governor Shaktikanta Das said there are a few slivers of brightness amidst the encircling gloom and hoped that India will stage a sharp V-shaped recovery in 2021-22 as projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The allowed non-bank financial companies to extend the date for commencement of commercial operations (DCCO) for loans given to commercial real estate by additional one year without considering it as restructuring.
Currently, the RBI has permitted banks to extend the DCCO in respect of loans to commercial real estate projects delayed for reasons beyond the control of promoters by additional one year, over and above the one-year extension permitted in normal course, without treating the same as restructuring.
“It has now been decided to extend a similar treatment to loans given by NBFCs to commercial real estate,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while addressing the media via video conference. The move will provide relief to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) as well as the real estate sector, he said.
Softening inflation, Das said would make available more policy space to the central bank to address risks to the growth going forward.
He further said that by April 10, pre-monsoon kharif sowing had begun strongly, with acreage of paddy – the principal kharif crop – up by 37 per cent in comparison with the last season.
States such as West Bengal, Telangana, Odisha, Assam, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh are leading in sowing activity despite the lockdown.