RBI Governor To Meet Industry Chambers On Jan. 17

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das will meet industry chambers on Thursday to understand their issues and concerns.

After taking over as 25th governor of the RBI last month, Das has been holding consultations with various stakeholders, including banks, non-banking financial companies and micro, small and medium enterprises.

The meeting comes ahead of the sixth bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2018-19 scheduled to be announced on Feb. 7.

The industry has been pitching for the rate cut amid falling inflation and factory output.

The factory output based on movement in the Index of Industrial Production slumped to a 17-month low of 0.5 percent in November on account of contraction in the manufacturing sector, particularly consumer and capital goods.

Continued decline in food prices pulled down retail inflation to an 18-month low of 2.19 percent in December 2018. Another set of official data showed that the wholesale inflation also eased to an eight-month low of 3.80 percent in December on softening fuel and food prices.

The RBI, which mainly factors in retail inflation, has been tasked by the government to maintain the inflation near 4 percent.