RBI’s monetary policy review

RBI STATEMENT ON DEVELOPMENTAL AND REGULATORY POLICIES

The RBI has decided to cover all repetitive bill payments under the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) and a detailed guideline in this regard will be issued by September-end.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies. This Statement sets out various developmental and regulatory policy measures in the areas of Financial Markets; Payment and Settlement Systems; Banking Regulation etc.

Key highlights of the statement: 

• Round-the-Clock Availability of National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) System: 
  • Currently, the NEFT payment system operated by the RBI as a retail payment system is available for customers from 8.00 am to 7.00 pm on all working days of the week (except 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month).
  • As mentioned in the Payment System Vision 2021 document, the RBI will make available the NEFT system on a 24×7 basis from December 2019.
• Expansion of Biller Categories for Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS): 
  • In order to harness the full potential of BBPS, RBI has decided to permit all categories of billers (except prepaid recharges) who provide for recurring bill payments to participate in BBPS on a voluntary basis.
  • The BBPS, an interoperable platform for repetitive bill payments, currently covers five segments that are direct-to-home, electricity, gas, telecom and water bills.
• Creation of a Central Payments Fraud Information Registry: The RBI has decided to create a central payments fraud information registry system to deal with banking frauds.

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MONETARY POLICY STATEMENT

Loans are set to get cheaper as Reserve Bank of India cut repo rate by 35 basis points to 5.40 %.

Key highlights of monetary policy statement: 

• On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to reduce the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 35 basis points (bps) from 5.75 % to 5.40 % with immediate effect.
• Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands revised to 5.15 %, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 5.65 %.
• The MPC also decided to maintain the accommodative stance of monetary policy.

Comment: 

• The move is said to give a fillip to the economy. This was the fourth consecutive time that the Monetary Policy Committee reduced the rates.
• These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 % within a band of +/- 2 %, while supporting growth.

Source: The Hindu