RBI to maintain repo rate at 6.5%: Experts

RBI To Maintain Repo Rate At 6.5%: Experts

by Utkalika Mohanty

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will continue with the 6.5 per cent repo rate and will not change its stance at its upcoming meeting next month as the inflation will average about 5.5 per cent for the year, said experts.

Chennai, Nov 28:The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will continue with the 6.5 per cent repo rate and will not change its stance at its upcoming meeting next month as the inflation will average about 5.5 per cent for the year, said experts.

Even though the RBI’s monthly bulletin for November has said the inflation to have declined to 4.7 per cent in October, the central bank will not revise downwards the repo rate as it does not want to let its guard down, they added.

“We do expect a status quo position on both repo rate as well as stance in the upcoming policy. Inflation appears to be sticky and food inflation in particular has become a worry as both cereal and vegetable inflation have set in. Inflation will be averaging 5.5 per cent for the year and thus not offer any room for change in repo rate in the downward direction,” Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, Bank of Baroda, told IANS.

According to him, the comforting factor is that the core inflation will remain low.

“The stance hence will continue to be withdrawal of accommodation as the transmission is still not complete and there is room for further action on the part of banks,” Sabnavis added.

Citing the RBI’s ‘State of the Economy’ monthly bulletin for November this year which also mentioned decline of inflation to 4.7 per cent in October, Umesh Revankar, Executive Vice Chairman, Shriram Finance, said it kindled hope of a return of lower rate regime.

But with the RBI raising risk weights on consumer credit, credit card receivables, and NBFC exposure, by 25 percentage points up to 125 per cent to control the liquidity in the system RBI does not want to let its guard down on inflation, Revankar added.

Accordingly, the MPC will maintain the repo rate at 6.5 per cent as it aims to stabilise inflation around the 4 per cent medium-term target by controlling the liquidity in the system, he said.

“We further anticipate no rate cuts till the beginning of the next fiscal year,” Revankar added.

(IANS)

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Stock Market In Top Gear After Budget, Logs Best Weekly Streak In Last 6 Years

by Shambhu Datta Mishra

Mumbai, July 27: Indian stock market witnessed a stellar rally in the Budget week. Last week, Sensex and Nifty surged by 728 points or 0.90 per cent and 303 points or 1.24 per cent respectively. This was the eighth consecutive week when the market closed with gains.

This is the first time since January 22, 2018 that the market has continued to rise for such a long period.

On a weekly basis, Tata Motors (13 per cent), HDFC Life Insurance (10.6 per cent), Sun Pharma (9.3 per cent), NTPC (8.7 per cent), BPCL (8.2 per cent), Titan (7.2 per cent), SBI Life Insurance (6.3 per cent) and Cipla (6 per cent) were the top gainers in the Nifty pack.

During this period, no Nifty stock posted negative returns.

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Pharma soared by 5.77 per cent, Nifty Media saw a gain of over 5.5 per cent, Nifty Auto surged by 5.16 per cent, Nifty Energy climbed by 2.79 per cent and Nifty FMCG posted 2.69 per cent weekly gains.

However, Nifty Bank (1.86 per cent), Nifty Realty (1.69 per cent), Nifty Finance (1.19 per cent) and Nifty PSU Bank (0.44 per cent) were the major laggards.

Nifty made a new all-time high of 24,861 and Sensex closed near its lifetime high Friday. Sensex closed at 81,332, up 1,292 points or 1.62 per cent, and Nifty closed at 24,834, up 428 points or 1.76 per cent.

According to market experts, "The market has now recovered its losses from budget day, driven by positive US GDP data and expectations of improved global demand. Moving forward, the direction of the domestic market will likely be influenced by the progress of the earnings season."

"DIIs continue to employ a 'buy on dips' strategy, which contributed to market gains on the week's last trading day, particularly in the pharma, auto, metal, IT, and FMCG sectors," they added.

(IANS)

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Priyanka Chopra's Daughter Malti Marie Invents Indo-Italian Cuisine

by Utkalika Mohanty

Mumbai, July 27: Global star Priyanka Chopra on Saturday shared an adorable glimpse of her daughter Malti Marie, who has come up with a new Indo-Italian cuisine -- Mortadella and roti.

The 'Miss World 2000', who has 91.7 million followers on Instagram, posted a story featuring her little bundle of joy wearing a white floral T-shirt and holding a roti wrapped with mortadella.

Priyanka captioned the picture: "Mortadella and roti," followed by Indian and Italian flag emojis.

In another story, the actress shared a picture of an Australian snack and wrote: "Australia killing it in the snack game."

The 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' actress also shared a behind-the-scenes video from the shoot of her project on an island.

In the video, she says, "When filming on a Saturday is not that bad."

Currently, Priyanka has been busy shooting for her upcoming action-thriller 'The Bluff'.

The American swashbuckler drama, co-written by Frank E. Flowers and Joe Ballarini, is directed by Flowers. The movie also stars Karl Urban, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Safia Oakley-Green, and Vedanten Naidoo.

Priyanka is married to American singer and actor Nick Jonas.

The couple tied the knot in December 2018. In January 2022, they welcomed their first child, a girl named Malti Marie, via surrogacy.

On the professional front, Priyanka made her acting debut with the 2002 Tamil film 'Thamizhan'. Her Bollywood debut came in 2003 with the spy thriller 'The Hero: Love Story of a Spy'.

She was last seen in the 2023 American romantic comedy-drama ‘Love Again’, co-starring Sam Heughan and Celine Dion.

Priyanka also narrated the wildlife documentary ‘Tiger’, directed by Mark Linfield, Vanessa Berlowitz, and Rob Sullivan.

The 42-year-old actress also has 'Heads of State' in the pipeline.

The action-comedy film, directed by Ilya Naishuller, also stars Idris Elba and John Cena.

--IANS

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"This One Is For My Fans": Ranveer Singh Announces New Film With Aditya Dhar

by Shambhu Datta Mishra

Mumbai, July 27: Ranveer Singh and Aditya Dhar have officially confirmed their new project, featuring a stellar cast that includes Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan, Akshaye Khanna and Arjun Rampal.

Taking to his Instagram account Saturday, Ranveer shared the announcement as he posted a black-and-white collage of the cast.

Along with the post, Ranveer added a caption that read, "This one is for my fans, who have been so patient with me, and been clamouring for a turn like this. I love you all, and I promise you, this time, a cinematic experience like never before. With your blessings, we embark on this great, big motion picture adventure with spirited energy and pure intent. This time, it's personal."

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Ranveer Singh (@ranveersingh)

The black-and-white photo collage included Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Akshaye Khanna, Aditya Dhar, and Arjun Rampal, all dressed in black and sporting serious expressions.

Aditya Dhar, who is best known for his national-award-winning film 'URI: The Surgical Strike', is directing this major feature.

The film's production involves Jyoti Deshpande from Jio Studios and Lokesh Dhar, alongside Dhar, under their B62 Studios banner.

Meanwhile, Ranveer Singh will also star in Farhan Akhtar's upcoming 'Don 3'. The actor will also appear in Rohit Shetty's Singham Again, where he will be seen sharing the screen with Arjun Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar, and Tiger Shroff.

His most recent film was Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, where he starred alongside Alia Bhatt.

(ANI)

RBI to maintain repo rate at 6.5%: Experts

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