Respect RBI's no rate cut decision, says Jaitley

Mumbai: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday threw his weight behind Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel who did not go for a rate cut in his third monetary policy review on February 8.

Both the finance minister and RBI governor Urjit Patel were addressing a press conference after the Central Board of the central bank concluded its meet and briefed about recent RBI's stand on interest rates.

Jaitley said it was a desire of all finance ministers to see RBI adopting a dovish stand and going for monetary easing. “All finance ministers have perpetual desire for cut in interest rate but respect decision taken by RBI,: Jaitley said.

Governor Urjit Patel who went for a cut in repo, benchmark lending rate, in his first monetary policy review on October 4 last year, had also said that the central bank has effected a sizable rate cut since January 2015, 175 basis points, and now it was up to the banks to front-load the benefits.

“There is some scope for further reduction in bank lending rate,” Patel said. RBI Governor explained that segments in which NPAs emerged pertain to sectors sectors with long gestation projects. “NPAs are a legacy issue,” he said.

Disclosure about number of demonetised currency deposited should be verifiable number in physical and accounting sense and not an estimate, Patel added.