FM Sitharaman meeting heads of PSU banks amidst several sectors resuming functioning
SOME major decisions are expected to be taken for toning up the Indian economy battered by the lockdown when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will have interaction with the CEOs of the Public Sector Banks on May 11. She will hear the banks’ views on interest rate transmission to borrowers by banks and progress on the moratorium on loan repayments. It may be recalled the Reserve Bank Of India on March 27 slashed the benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points and also announced a three-month moratorium to be given by banks to provide relief to borrowers whose income has been hit due to the lockdown. Later, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das met heads of both public and private sector banks to take stock of the economic situation and review the implementation of various measures announced by the central bank. Shakti Kant Das and FM Sitharaman are closely monitoring the economy.FITCH Solutions has meanwhile cut India’s economic growth forecast for the financial year 2020-21 to 1.8 percent. It said that private consumption is likely to contract due to the large-scale loss of income in the face of worsening domestic outbreak of Covid-19.”Over the past week, we have continued to adjust down our country-specific real GDP growth forecasts on the back of persistently low oil prices and the widening spread of Covid-19. Our forecasts remain fluid and, even despite the recent downward revisions, we believe that the risks remain skewed to the downside,” the London based rating agency said in a statement. India’s real GDP growth rate for 2020-21 (April 2020 to March 2021) has been revised down to 1.8 percent from 4.6 percent, previously due to COVID -19 crisis. (image courtesy to The Financial Express)
