India’s Das Says RBI to Be ‘Proactive’ in Tackling Virus Threat

(Bloomberg) -- The Reserve Bank of India will be proactive in dealing with threats stemming from the coronavirus outbreak and will have assessed the potential impact on India by the next rate decision due April 3, Governor Shaktikanta Das told BloombergQuint.

“If required, the RBI will act as and when required and, as in the past, the RBI will be proactive and act in time,” Das said, when asked if the central bank needs to make an emergency move. His comments come just days after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut rates by 50 basis points in a surprise decision, triggering speculation that other central banks will follow suit.

Read: India's RBI Chief Sees Rate Cut as Option Amid Virus Threat

In a report, Deutsche Bank said it saw increased possibility of the RBI delivering an at least 25 basis points rate cut before its April 3 decision.

“With the concerns related to growth likely to dominate over inflation in the coming months and quarters, a preemptive move by RBI makes sense, especially given the considerable lag with which monetary policy transmission works in India,” Kaushik Das, chief India economist at Deutsche Bank wrote.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anirban Nag in Mumbai at anag8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Jeanette Rodrigues, Tuhin Kar

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