NEW DELHI: State Bank of India (Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya on Thursday said the Reserve Bank is likely to keep interest rate intact in its upcoming monetary policy review slated for August 3.
“I think status quo is more likely,” she said when asked what her expectation was from RBI policy review.
In the last policy review in June, the Reserve Bank of I ndia chose not to alter the policy rate. It was the second consecutive occasion that RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan kept interest rates unchanged.
The repo rate, at which the RBI lends to banks, was retained at 8 per cent and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) was kept unchanged at 4 per cent.
Inflationary pressure due to deficient rainfall could prompt RBI to keep interest rate intact.
On capital requirement, Bhattacharya said: “There are various scenarios, various requirements...at this point of time when the credit growth is not too much I am not seeing any immediate requirement. But going ahead, of course there will be requirement on the capital front.”
Speaking on the sidelines of a NABARD event, Bhattacharya said “for the current fiscal, the bank has not taken a decision on how much to raise.”
Prices of some of the food articles like onion, tomato and potatoes have firmed up in the recent past.