In his maiden policy review, and to keep rising inflation in check, the newly appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan announced raising of policy rate by 0.25 per cent for EMIs on auto, home and other loans. The decision came as a surprise and sent the stock market into a tizzy. The immediate impact of the new policy decision was that the rupee depreciated 69 paise to 62.46 against the dollar. The repo rate has gone up from 7.25 per cent to 7.5 per cent. There has been mixed reaction to the decision and some financial experts contend that instead of shifting the focus to growth promotion by lowering interest rates to generate demand, the rates have been hiked
It is somewhat difficult for ordinary people to understand financial intricacies. All that an ordinary person is interested is that he should find easement. Prices are soaring and the cost of living is touching the sky. We want that financial reforms should be brought about speedily so that inflation is controlled and dearness of essential commodities is controlled. The poor are becoming poorer. Drastic steps should be taken to bring about downslide trend in the prices so that poor people can survive. We are aware that the Government is doing all it can to bring down the prices, arrest inflation and stop the rupee falling against dollar. We are also aware that Indian economy bears direct impact of world economy. As such we are also to bear the brunt of economic recession. But what the Government needs to be careful about is that anti-social elements should not be allowed to exploit the ordinary people in such a situation. Hoarders and black marketers have to be kept at arms length.