The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday announced the Monetary and Credit Policy for October 2004-March 2005.
GDP growth pegged down to 6-6.5 per cent for 2004-05
Inflation pegged upwards at around 6.5 per cent
Money Supply (M3) growth to be 14 per cent in 2004-05
Bank Rate unchanged at 6 per cent
Repo Rate hiked by 0.25 per cent to 4.75 per cent
Housing finance upto Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million) under priority sector
Ceiling on NRE deposit rates hiked by 0.5 pc over Libor
FCNR(B) deposit rates can be fixed monthly
Minimum tenor of term deposits lowered to 7 days
PSU banks asked to step up loans to small farmers
Private banks asked to attain 20-25 pc growth in farm loans
Loan limit for SSIs doubled to Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million)
RIDF fund of Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) set up
]Minimum maturity of Commercial Papers lowered to 7 days
Capital Indexed Bonds from next fiscal
Market Stabilisation scheme ceiling at Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 800 billion)
Time limit for export realisation for EOUs (Export Oriented Units) eased
Forward contracts booking by exporters/importers eased
New non-performing assets norms for financial institutions
Asset reconstruction company's minimum capital up at 15 per cent of assets or Rs 100 cr (Rs 1 billion)
- Central Board of Direct Taxes allowed to refund upto Rs 25,000 through electronic claearing.