Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said that acting prematurely on inflation by lowering key interest rate could have had a heavy cost on the economy, reported PTI.
“We prevented a complete collapse of the economy by keeping rates lower and stayed away from premature tightening,” Das said at an event of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Indian Banks’ Association. “Acting early would have exerted costs on the economy and the people.”
Das made the comments a day before the Monetary Policy Committee of the central bank meeting to discuss the surge in the country’s retail inflation. The RBI has announced the special meeting as the retail inflation has stayed above the central bank’s tolerance level of 6% for nine straight months till September.
The price rise indicator had touched an eight-year-high of 7.79% in April, while in September it stood at 7.41%. The central bank aims to keep inflation in the range of 2% to 6%. Under the RBI Act, the central bank is mandated to submit a report to the central government if inflation breaches this range for three consecutive quarters, or nine months.
On Wednesday, Das said that the RBI’s report to the government on inflation will not be made public immediately, but would be released at some point.
“In case of the letter which the Reserve Bank writes to the government [on inflation], it is a report sent under a law,” Das said, according to Moneycontrol. “I don’t have the privilege, the authority, or the luxury to release a letter like this written under the law to the media before even the addressee gets it.”
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