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MUMBAI: India's central bank held key interest rates steady at record lows on Tuesday, but said it was time to roll back some of the "unconventional" measures taken to counter the global financial crisis.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Duvvuri Subbarao said in a statement that the economy was not ready for a hike in "conventional" short-term lending rates, the main policy tool at the bank's disposal to influence lending.
But the bank did reverse some of the "unconventional" monetary policy measures taken during the global financial crisis that had served to increase liquidity in the banking system when there were fears about a lending shortage.
Economists had anticipated the decision to hold short-term interest rates, saying any hike would likely come later this year or in early 2010 once a recently observed economic uptick had become entrenched.
"The precise challenge which the bank faces is to support the recovery process without compromising on price stability," Reserve Bank of India governor Duvvuri Subbarao said in the statement.
The repo, the rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks, was kept at 4.75 per cent, while the reverse repo, the rate at which it borrows from banks, was held at 3.25 per cent.
However, the RBI restored the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) – the minimum share of bank deposits to be held in government bonds, cash and gold – for commercial banks to 25 per cent, from 24 per cent.
"Reversing conventional measures is not appropriate for now, but the unconventional measures can be reversed immediately," said Subbarao after the half-yearly review of monetary policy.
The central bank said there were definite signs of recovery and kept its earlier growth forecast at 6.0 per cent "with an upside bias" for the year to March.
Inflation has mirrored the rise in output, rising to 1.0 per cent over 12 months for the week ended October 10 after a poor monsoon sent food prices spiralling across the country.
The central bank has forecast that inflation could rise further in coming months, forecasting it at 6.5 per cent by March next year.
The RBI has cut the "repo" interest rate six times since October 2008, as well as introducing unconventional measures to mitigate the impact of the global financial crisis.
Between November 2008 and March this year, the government introduced three stimulus packages to help revive the economy as demand for goods and services was hit by the global slowdown.
Some analysts had suggested the central bank might increase the cash reserve ratio, the amount which banks have to keep aside as deposit, as another way to soak up excess banking liquidity.
The rate was left unchanged at 5.0 per cent on Tuesday.
RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao will speak to the media later Tuesday.
- AFP/yb/so
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