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CO
S
COPE
The Economy Observer
17 June 2013
RBI leaves Repo rate and CRR unchanged
RBI's policy review
Hawkish statement links policy with BoP, expect 25bp rate cut
RBI keeps policy rates and CRR
in Jul-13
unchanged
Macroeconomic projections for FY14
RBI kept the policy rates unchanged as expected. However, contrary to our
and policy stance too unchanged
expectations of a 25bp cut, it kept CRR unchanged too.
Links policy rate decisions explicitly
RBI maintained all its forecasts on growth, inflation and monetary indicators
with BoP situation
unchanged at the levels articulated in its May-13 Annual Policy. Also the
Highlights inflation risks from food
stance was kept unaltered.
prices, hike in administered prices
The guidance makes monetary policy stance explicitly conditional on the
and INR
improvement in BoP along with growth and inflation following expected
Mentions that only a durable
receding of inflation would allow
trajectories.
pro-growth policies
The non-event policy comes as a moderate setback, particularly in the
backdrop of nearly eight consecutive policy easing (barring Dec-12 which
Draws comfort from seasonal easing
of liquidity
was followed up with significant OMOs), while rates still remained high for
Omits critical reference on
the investing and leveraged entities.
government, notes rating
In our assessment, the policy document remains fairly hawkish that chooses
improvement on fiscal correction
to concentrate on inflation risks in terms of i) persistence of high food
Expect 25bp cut in end-July 2013
inflation, ii) release of suppressed inflation through revisions in
policy rates as data on IIP, inflation
administered prices, including the minimum support prices (MSP), iii) INR
and trade deficit becomes more
depreciation. While acknowledging that inflation remained within its
supportive
estimates, it also made further easing contingent upon "durable receding
of inflation that will open up the space for monetary policy to continue to address risks to growth".
On the liquidity front it seemed to have drawn comfort from the lowering of LAF balance, while ignoring the fact that easing
liquidity stress is on the back of a moderating credit growth and CD ratio, a careful structuring of government borrowing
programme and payback of subsidies due to oil companies.
The policy document also omitted critical references to the government that has marked earlier policy documents.
In our assessment, the odds for a rate cut during end-July policy has increased as data including IIP, inflation and trade deficit
becomes more supportive for further cuts.
RBI leaves Repo rate and CRR unchanged, guidance highlights CAD concerns
Policy rates left unchanged:
RBI left the Repo rate unchanged as expected (MOSL/
Consensus - no change). Thus, Repo rate stood at 7.25%, Reverse Repo at 6.25%
and MSF/Bank rate at 8.25%.
CRR/SLR left unchanged:
RBI also left the CRR unchanged at 4% (MOSL 25bp cut;
Consensus - no change). SLR too has been kept unchanged at 23% after the
100bp cut in Jul-12.
FY14 estimates left unchanged:
The various projections for FY14, as articulated
in the May-13 Annual Policy, were left unchanged. Thus, estimates for growth
and inflation stood at 5.7% and 5.5% respectively. RBI's indicative monetary
projections remained at 13% for M3, 14% for deposits and 15% for non-food
credit.
Stance unaltered:
RBI maintained its stance of according top priority to growth
followed by inflation control and management of liquidity.
Dipankar Mitra
(Dipankar.Mitra@MotilalOswal.com); +91 22 3982 5405
Investors are advised to refer through disclosures made at the end of the Research Report.
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