Reserve Bank of India has kept options open for a possible repo rate cut but said there was no "great urgency" for slashing it from the present level of 5.0 per cent.
"The view of RBI is very clear. We are waiting for inflation and monsoon situation to become clear. There is no great urgency and we will take a decision whenever it is required," RBI Governor Bimal Jalan said on the sidelines of NCAER board meeting in New Delhi on Friday.
Maintaining that the soft interest rate bias will continue, he said there was no change in the central bank's stance from what it announced in the slack season Credit Policy in April.
RBI had slashed its benchmark bank rate by 0.25 per cent to 6.0 per cent in April while projecting a 6.0 per cent growth in GDP during this fiscal.
Although the refinance rate came down, repo rate was kept untouched till now.
The bond market has been expecting a repo rate cut in view of the excess liquidity amounting to about Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) in the economy and the lower than 5.0 per cent inflation rate.
The existing excess liquidity was due to the inflow of foreign exchange and low credit off-take from banks in the initial months.
Forex reserves are now at over $80 billion even as the rupee was appreciating against the greenback. Jalan did not like to comment on the Rupee which has been appreciating against the US dollar in the last few weeks.
The repo rate cut was also anticipated in the wake of ample arbitrage opportunities between Indian and overseas markets especially after US central bank cut refinance rate by 0.25 per cent to 1.0 per cent last week. Jalan also said there was no implication on the slowing down of the money supply growth.
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