Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that banks need to reduce interest rates on loans. Nirmala Sitharaman said this at the SBI Banking and Economics Conclave 2024 on Monday (November 18).
Nirmala Sitharaman said, 'Borrowing cost is really high. At a time when we want to promote industry and also increase capacity building, we have to make interest rates affordable.
The interest rate or repo rate of Reserve Bank of India i.e. RBI is currently 6.50%. RBI has kept the interest rate stable in the last 10 monetary policy meetings. The Central Bank had reduced its rating to neutral in the October monetary policy meeting.
RBI should cut interest rates: Piyush Goyal
Union Minister Piyush Goyal had also said last week that RBI should cut interest rates. On this, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had said that he will keep his comment 'reserved' for the upcoming monetary policy meeting in December. Goyal and Das had said this on the occasion of Global Leadership Summit organized by a TV channel.
Pressure is being seen on inflation figures
Regarding inflation, Sitharaman said that due to three items, there is pressure on inflation figures. He said, 'From time to time, the supply of some food items in India may not be sufficient. So, unless you get to the root of the problem, there will be problems with commodities like tomatoes, onions and potatoes from time to time.
Retail inflation reached 6.2% in October
Retail inflation has reached a 14-month high of 6.2% in October, whereas it was 5.5% in the previous month. Food inflation has seen a rapid increase in the prices of vegetables. For the first time in the last one year, inflation has gone above the range of 6%.
Graphics Source: VaskarAssets
