FM wants interest rates lot lower; no difference with RBI - Business Standard

Despite two interest rate cuts this year by the Reserve Bank, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said he wants interest rate to be "a lot lower".

Jaitley also asserted there were no differences between the government and the RBI.

"My position very clearly is not very different with that of the Reserve Bank. We need to manage inflation along with growth. Now we cannot afford to have inflation go up radically so the RBI is a little conservative and they try and manage the inflation so they are a little careful in lowering the interest rates," he said.

"I want the interest rates to be lower a lot more, but they (RBI) balance inflation with growth," he told NDTV.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had cut repo rate by 0.25 per cent each in January and March outside scheduled monetary policy reviews. He, however, kept the rates unchanged in the first bi-monthly monetary policy of the current fiscal earlier this month.

Jaitley said "there is nothing wrong" in two institutions -- government and RBI -- having conflicting opinions.

"Now there are evolving opinions world over on the role of central bank. Reserve Bank in India has done a great job. Now the different opinions are there in some areas (on) how monetary policy is decided. Is there a committee? What is the level of consultation with the government?," he said.

The Finance Minister said he was not "unhappy" with the Reserve Bank and pointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising Rajan at the central bank's 80 anniversary function in Mumbai earlier this month.

via Business - Google News http://ift.tt/1IJ36jZ

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