Captains of industry see a ray of hope in relief measures
Industry representatives said the latest measures by the RBI will aid economic recovery by fuelling demand amid the coronavirus pandemic
MUMBAI : India Inc on Friday welcomed the RBI’s moves to boost liquidity, with a 40 basis point cut in repo rate, while extending the moratorium on term loans and increasing group exposure limits for lenders.
Several industry representatives said the latest measures by the central bank will aid economic recovery by fuelling demand amid the pandemic.
“This affordable credit coupled with moratorium extension will help restart the economic engine," said Bhavesh Gupta, CEO of Clix Capital, a retail- and small business-focussed non-bank lender. “Repo and reverse repo rate to multi-year low rates will give the much-needed liquidity boost to consumers and micro, small and medium enterprises," said Gupta.
“The RBI governor’s assessment of the economy is perhaps closer to ground reality. This is the right time for the government to start rolling out infra spending. For instance, defence and other central services can start placing orders to kick-start the auto sector. This will help spur consumption," said Rajiv Agarwal, managing director and CEO, Essar Ports. “The Centre must roll out a minimum of 10% of the GDP as economic packages for sectors that have suffered the most, relax regulatory reforms further, increase private equity by making India, in terms of tax and investment climate, safer and friendly."
“Privatize, monetize and stabilize the economy. Land, labour, ease and cost of doing business should be given high priority," said Sanjay Dutt, managing director (MD) and CEO, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd.
“The need of the hour is for the central bank to announce measures encouraging friction-free and urgent infusion of liquidity to borrowers from banks and NBFCs," said Nitin Mittal, founder and CEO, SOLV, a B2B platform that helps connect SMEs with each other, trade and avail financing.
“Today’s RBI announcement should be an eye-opener for everyone. A quasi-government organization has for the first time accepted that the gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be negative and that the economy is facing major problems on the demand side," said Sanjay Sabharwal, MD, Metaldyne Industries Ltd, a supplier of metal parts to major automakers.
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