Circumstances ideal for rate cut by RBI, says Jaitley

New Delhi: Batting for a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its upcoming monetary policy review, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the circumstances are ideal as inflation is under control and monsoon prediction good.

“Inflation for long time has been under control. There is possibility of good monsoon. Balancing between petrol and shale gas indicates that the oil prices will not go through the roof. Growth and investment needs to improve. Any Finance Minister under these circumstances would like a rate cut,” Jaitley told CNBC TV18.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Urjit Patel will meet on June 6-7 to decide on the key interest rates.

“But let’s wait for the MPC decision. MPC experiment is in its first year,” he said.

Adding that revival of private investment and banking sector were the government’s focus points now, Jaitley said good infrastructure and growth returning to the world after three-four years of slowdown were positive indicators.

Indiscriminate lending by banks earlier had led to the current situation of bad loans, he noted.