EDITORIALS & ARTICLES

RBI's sudden repo rate hike and What does this mean?.

The RBI had sounded a note of caution in its April policy meeting stating that price stability will henceforth take precedence over growth as consumer inflation surged as a consequence of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. March CPI inflation of 6.95 per cent was much above the upper limit of RBI’s tolerance band. With global prices of fuels as well as other commodities remaining high through April 2022, it is likely that CPI reading April will also be quite high. RBI has been behind the curve, waiting for inflation to cool over the past months, even as other central banks have been hiking rates. This has led to the fairly large 40 bps hike in repo rate.  

The other reason that seems to have prompted RBI’s move is the impending Federal Open Market Committee decision. US Federal Reserve has begun its rate hike cycle in March 2022 and is expected to hike the Federal Fund rate rather aggressively, by at least 50 basis points this week. If the RBI fails to act now, the spread in the sovereign bond yields of India and US will narrow resulting in accelerated foreign capital outflows. FPIs have already pulled out close to ₹14,000 crore from Indian debt since February 2022. 

Many in the market are also of the opinion that the RBI may have stayed its hand due to the LIC IPO that is currently open. The central bank may not have wanted to roil stock markets with a rate hike ahead of the IPO. 

Why has it raised CRR too? 

Excessive liquidity in the system results in higher inflation and the RBI has been trying to suck out liquidity through various tools in the previous policies. The hike in CRR by 50 basis points is yet another move towards this end. The central bank has stated that ₹87,000 crore of liquidity will be withdrawn through this move. 

What does this mean for borrowers and depositors? 

Interest rates on loans will begin moving higher with the RBI making a decisive hike in repo rate. Many banks including SBI, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda had increased MCLR over the last few days, making rates of all loans more expensive. MCLR will undergo further upward revision with this move. 

The repo rate hike is however a good news for savers who have been witnessing negative real interest rates on their investment. With returns on saving products such as bank and NBFC deposits and small saving schemes, fixed income investors will benefit.  Those holding sovereign and corporate bonds will however see erosion in value as yields increase. 

Will this rate hike smother the nascent recovery in Indian economy? 

This will definitely impact consumer demand for houses, consumer durables and other discretionary items. With credit to the large companies and industries just beginning to revive, the rate hike could slow down credit growth to industry too. But over the longer-term, price stability will play an important role in supporting demand. 

If RBI is so worried about inflation, why is it retaining the `accommodative’ stance when it comes to monetary policy? 

The RBI cannot afford to go towards aggressive monetary tightening like other advanced economies because the economy is not completely out of the woods yet. While there are signs of mild revival in investment cycle, private consumption is yet to move strongly above pre-pandemic level. External risks from the ongoing geopolitical tensions, high commodity prices and slow-down in China threaten growth forcing RBI to continue with its accommodative policy.

What is CRR? 

crr rbi hikeCash Reserve Ratio (CRR) refers to the certain proportion of Net Demand and Time Liability (NDTL) of the commercial banks which has to be reserved in the form of cash (liquid asset) under the supervision of RBI as per Section 42 of the RBI Act

In other words, RBI has mandated that every commercial bank must keep a specific part of its net deposits in form of cash to avoid the shortage of cash and to control the supply of money in the economy.
The value of CRR is 4% right now however it can be adjusted any time by RBI. In case any commercial bank defaults to maintain CRR a penalty of 3% above Bank Rate will be imposed. Also, this penalty will be increased to 5% above Bank Rate if the banks will continue defaulting succeeding working days.
DTL and NDTL:
NDTL refers to the net cash available in a bank for the distribution of credit to its customers, this means total cash deposits of commercial banks excluding banker cheques, other bank’s deposits, subsidy etc.
DTL (Demand and Time Liabilities) is the total deposits (Liabilities) such as saving account deposits, current account deposits, time deposits (fixed deposits) and recurring deposits during the specified time period.
Objectives of Cash Reserve Ratio:
CRR is one of the most important components of the monetary policy of the Reserve Bank of India. The main objectives of CRR are as follows.
  • CRR control the supply of money in the market.
  • CRR facilitates to avoid the circumstances of a cash crunch.
  • CRR facilitates in maintaining the rate of inflation in the economy.

How does Cash Reserve Ratio work?

Suppose State Bank of India has Net Demand and Time Liabilities is Rs 1000 crores and CRR is 4% which is mandated by RBI. Therefore, Rs 40 crores will be reserved in the form of cash with RBI and hence Rs 960 crore is available for the disbursement of loans.
Now if RBI needs to increase the supply of money in the market, it reduces the cash reserve ratio. Therefore, the amount of distributable cash will be more and thus it leads to a higher rate of inflation.
Conversely, if RBI needs to decrease the inflation rate in the country, simply it would increase the cash reserve ratio. Therefore, the creditable cash will be less and it decreases the supply of money in the market. Thus the rate of inflation goes down.
In this way, RBI regulates the supply of money and hence control the rate of inflation in India.
Cash Reserve Ratio vs Statutory Liquid Ratio:

Although both CRR and SLR are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and have the same objective yet there are few differences between them.

  • CRR is regulated under section 42 of the RBI Act 1934 whereas SLR is regulated by the Banking Regulation Act.

  • CRR has to maintain in form of cash only whereas SLR could be maintained in the form of gold, RBI approved securities and cash as well.

  • In the case of CRR, commercial banks neither get interested nor may invest in the financial market, on the other hand in case of SLR commercial banks do earn incentives as well.

  • The main objective of CRR is to control inflation and to protect from cash crunch whereas Statutory liquidity ratio’s objective is to control the bank’s leverage.







POSTED ON 08-05-2022 BY ADMIN
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