RBI reviews economic situation ahead of GDP data

Amid fears of a global growth slowdown, the Reserve Bank India (RBI) Friday reviewed the current economic situation and global and domestic challenges including the overall impact of current global geopolitical crises at its Board meeting.

The meeting comes ahead of the crucial release of official economic growth data for the April-June quarter, which is likely to show a four-quarter high double-digit growth, mostly reflecting the vent to pent-up demand as the economy re-opened post pandemic.

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Other than that, the business activity in the country as depicted by the high frequency numbers such as Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), shows industrial growth and exports have not picked up pace.

The latest survey showed India’s services activity in July fell to its lowest in the past four months as global demand slowed down. Exports were down 12 per cent month-on-month, the latest trade data from July showed.

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In light of these developments at home and the fears of a global economic growth slowdown, the RBI Board reviewed the economic situation.

The Board also discussed various areas of operations of the Reserve Bank including the functioning of the local boards and activities of select central office departments.

Deputy Governors Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, M Rajeshwar Rao, T Rabi Sankar and other directors of the Central Board Satish K Marathe, S Gurumurthy, Revathy Iyer, Sachin Chaturvedi, Anand Gopal Mahindra, Venu Srinivasan, Pankaj Ramanbhai Patel and Ravindra H Dholakia attended the meeting.

Sanjay Malhotra, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, also attended the meeting.