Credit policy fails to cheer market

"The investment climate is not very conducive, notwithstanding the 20 per cent rise in resources flow to the corporate sector. The policy does not have the strength to galvanise the financial system. You can not blame the finance ministry or the Reserve Bank, a psychological dullness prevails which must be removed first," said a top executive.

Vijay Rai, managing director of Rallis India termed the policy as "average". Industry did not expect the RBI to announce anything major this time, he said. He noted that a growth in money supply indicates that inflation has taken place. "Deposits have increased because money has no other avenue to go," he said, "itcannot be put in the stocks which are going down."

On the other hand, the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) called the policy a "technocratic policy" designed at giving a new depth to Indian banking and financial system. Says Y P Trivedi, President of the chamber, the policy has exercised great restraint and withheld from either raising CRR or interest rates to curb inflation and great skill in handling the external sector.

Some corporates felt that the RBI governor’s refraining from cutting CRR was indicating of brilliant liquidity management and it would mean that more funds would be free for private investors to borrow. Also, the moves made in consonance with the Narasimham Committee’s second report on banking sector restructuring also proved to be extremely popular as `bold steps with corporate experts.

D D Rathi, executive director Indian Rayon said: "The tightening proposed in the provisioning norms is a good step, because the true strength of banks should be reflected. Steps proposed to reduceforeign exchange volatility were a good idea."