Retaining growth forecast at 7.2% is encouraging, says FICCI chief

‘Recent moderation in global commodity prices should hopefully offer some respite for inflation, going ahead’

Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) president Sanjiv Mehta said Reserve Bank of India had maintained consistency in the policy statement by focussing on withdrawal of accommodation to contain inflation.

“Inflation has been over the comfort range of the central bank, however the recent moderation in global commodity prices should hopefully offer some respite going ahead,” he said.

“The uncertainty on the external front remains. Nonetheless, the central bank has retained the growth forecast for 2022-23 at 7.2% – which is encouraging,” he added.

Rajiv Agarwal, operating partner (Infrastructure), Essar, and MD, Essar Ports said: “RBI’s decision to raise the repo rate clearly signals the intent to keep the country within the targeted inflation rate. Hence the GDP growth forecast was also retained at 7.2% which is still one of the best globally”.

“The country’s economy is heading In the right direction with urban demand increasing and domestic economic activity showing signs of broadening even though rural demand shows a mix trend. The RBI and MPC have taken bold steps to overcome the global headwinds that are driving inflation and keep the Indian economy on the path of growth,” he added.

Commenting on RBI’s decision to enable Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) to accept cross-border inward bill payments, Pranay Jhaveri, MD - India & South Asia, Euronet Worldwide, said, “It is a step in the right direction to continue growing BBPS with a new use case as it may get additional foreign exchange into the country. We will have to await specific directions in terms of implementation and compliance,” he said. 

According to Sagar Agarvwal, co-Founder, Beams Fintech, the rate increase would mostly impact lending fintechs. “Their lending rates have been in the range of 12-14% levels and with base rates going up, their costs of borrowing should technically go up and not go down, if they were anticipating that,” he said.