From liquidity, monetary policy operations to financial inclusion, know about RBI monetary policy
- Liquidity and monetary policy operations
- Repo rate kept unchanged at 6.25%
- Policy rate corridor for repo rate reduced from +/- 50 basis points (bps) to +/- 25 bps
- Reverse repo rate increased by 25 bps to 6% from 5.75%
- Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate reduced by 25 bps to 6.5%
- RBI to employ a mix of instruments to ensure liquidity
- Government examining introduction of Standing Deposit Facility (SDF); this would give greater flexibility to manage liquidity operations
Banking regulation and supervision
- Minimum net owned funds for asset reconstruction companies increased from Rs 2 crore to Rs 100 crore
- Banks allowed to participate in Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvITs)
- Revised Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework for banks to be issued by mid-April 2017
Financial markets
- Draft guidelines on simplified hedging facility for forex exposure likely by mid-April
- Towards development of corporate bond market, a draft policy framework for introduction of tri-party repo likely by mid-April
Payment and settlement
- Eleven additional settlement batches for National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) to be introduced from 8.30 am onwards
- Total half-hourly settlement batches to increase to 23
- Current merchant discount rate (MDR) to continue till the issuance of final guidelines
- Final guidelines for prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) to be issued by end-May
Financial inclusion
- RBI to initiate a pilot project on financial literacy
- Project to be commissioned in nine states across 80 blocks by non-government organisations in collaboration with the sponsor banks
Photograph: Reuters
