Skip to content
Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Primary Menu Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us
  • Featured

Covid-19: RBI Cuts Rates As Distress Mounts Across South Asia

Mar 27, 2020 | Pratirodh Bureau

A trader wearing protective hand gloves counts Indian currency notes at a market during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to limit the spreading of the coronavirus disease in Kochi on March 27, 2020

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) slashed interest rates in an emergency move on Friday to counter the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic after the government locked down the country in order to slow the spread of infections across the region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked India’s 1.3 billion people to stay indoors for three weeks in the biggest lockdown anywhere, shutting down Asia’s third largest economy and leaving millions of economically vulnerable people without work.

The RBI lowered the benchmark repo rate by 75 basis points to 4.40% after a video conference meeting of its monetary policy committee (MPC), which was brought forward to respond to the crisis.

“Clearly, a war effort has to be mounted and is being mounted to combat the virus, involving both conventional and unconventional measures in a continuously battle-ready mode,” Governor Shaktikanta Das said.

The move came a day after the federal government announced a $22.6 billion stimulus plan to ease the pain of the poor through direct cash transfers and food security measures.

Even before the pandemic stuck, India’s economy was struggling and growth has probably weakened to at least an eight-year low this quarter, and is likely to slow even more sharply in the next six months, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

India has reported 723 coronavirus cases, and 17 people have died, according to the health ministry, but there are fears that toll could easily overtake other hard-hit nations like the United States, China and Italy.

Modi and international experts have said that India faces a tidal wave of infections if it doesn’t take tough steps. But, efforts to combat the spread of the virus are handicapped by limited medical facilities and inadequate supplies of testing kits, according to experts.

India is hoping that if it can keep its people under lockdown until mid-April it would be able stem transmission of the virus within communities. Officials say infections have been concentrated so far among people either coming from overseas or in contact with them.

Other countries in South Asia, home to a fifth of the world’s population, also signalled signs of distress, dragged into economic crisis by the fallout from the pandemic.

Sri Lanka has asked for a moratorium on its international debt repayments.

For India, aside from desperation resulting from the lost jobs, the rapidly decelerating economy risked exacerbating an already critical problem of bad debts.

“The RBI has pulled out its bazooka,” said Prithviraj Srinivas, chief economist at Axis Capital in Mumbai.

“It has pulled down the cost of capital through deep policy rate cuts, it has increased the quantity of money through cash reserve ratio cuts and asset purchases, and more importantly, reduced financial stress in the economy through its 3-month moratorium on all term loans as well as working capital.”

Tags: coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, monetary policy committee, MPC, Pratirodh, RBI, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, repo rate, Reserve Bank of India, reverse repo rate

Continue Reading

Previous Bruised Economy To Be Battered Further By Covid-19: Poll
Next ‘Stigmatised’: Covid-19 ‘Heroes’ Come Under Attack

More Stories

  • Featured

Af Women TV Presenters Vow To Fight Order To Cover Faces

4 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

CAA Protests Against Unjust Law, Not Against Sovereign: Umar Khalid

4 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Assam: Opposition Decries Bulldozer ‘Revenge’

20 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Af Women TV Presenters Vow To Fight Order To Cover Faces
  • CAA Protests Against Unjust Law, Not Against Sovereign: Umar Khalid
  • Assam: Opposition Decries Bulldozer ‘Revenge’
  • Ukraine: Russian Soldier Jailed For Life In First War Crimes Trial
  • Time To Tax The Rich: Oxfam At Davos
  • ‘Farmers Can Change Govt, If They Want’
  • War Through The Eyes Of Ukrainian Kids
  • ‘Ample Suspicion’ Yet Court Acquits Two Cops Of Tribal Girl’s Rape, Murder
  • Hindu College Prof Held For Post On ‘Shivling’ At Gyanvapi Mosque
  • North India Caught In Vicious Cycle Of Forest Fires, Heatwaves
  • ‘Pavlovian Response’: India Rejects Remarks By Bilawal Zardari At UN
  • Pegasus Row: SC Grants More Time To Panel To Submit Report
  • Climate Change: Extreme Heat Waves In India 100 Times More Likely
  • The Dark Side Of Social Media Influencing
  • Yasin Malik Convicted In Terror Funding Case
  • Calling Out Racism, In All Its Forms And Garbs
  • Zelenskyy Opens Cannes Film Festival, Links War And Cinema
  • The Rocky Road To Social Media Independence
  • Pollution: Over 23.5 Lakh Premature Deaths In India In 2019
  • Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: SC Orders Release Of Convict

Search

Main Links

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us

Related Stroy

  • Featured

Af Women TV Presenters Vow To Fight Order To Cover Faces

4 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

CAA Protests Against Unjust Law, Not Against Sovereign: Umar Khalid

4 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Assam: Opposition Decries Bulldozer ‘Revenge’

20 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Ukraine: Russian Soldier Jailed For Life In First War Crimes Trial

21 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Time To Tax The Rich: Oxfam At Davos

1 day ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Af Women TV Presenters Vow To Fight Order To Cover Faces
  • CAA Protests Against Unjust Law, Not Against Sovereign: Umar Khalid
  • Assam: Opposition Decries Bulldozer ‘Revenge’
  • Ukraine: Russian Soldier Jailed For Life In First War Crimes Trial
  • Time To Tax The Rich: Oxfam At Davos
Copyright © All rights reserved. | CoverNews by AF themes.