INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
sharp slowdown in the country's economy and pitched for a monetary policy boost to support growth at a meeting with Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday, according to three participants.The RBI chief met more than a dozen economists to get their views
on the economy ahead of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision due on April 4.Most economists expect the six-member MPC to cut the
repo rate by 25 basis points for the second time in a row next month to 6.00 per cent, a level last seen in August 2017.While the economists
did not specify the extent of rate cut that the RBI could consider, one of them called for a 50-basis- point reduction, one of the
participants said."Most of the participants said that monetary policy needs to do the heavy lifting to boost growth as there was no space
for fiscal expansion," another participant said.The meeting under Mr Das, who took charge in December, was in sharp contrast to the previous
ones under former governor Urjit Patel, who was slightly reclusive and preferred to meet a small group of 5-6 economists
Mr Das' style has, however, been more open and communicative.The country's economy expanded by 6.6 per cent during October-December, its
slowest pace in five quarters, on weak consumer demand and investments, dealing a major blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he seeks a
second term in office at a general election that kicks off next month.Slowing growth has hit the government's tax collections, constraining
its ability to substantially boost spending ahead of elections.However, neither Mr Das nor any RBI official from the monetary policy
department gave any indication of their thoughts or views, as is typical in such big-group meetings.Economists and strategists spoke of
several issues including drought, liquidity management, exchange rate, inflation, growth, bank credit growth, real interest rates and
monetary policy transmission."The meeting went on for two-and-a-half hours as there were many participants," said another economist who
attended the meeting."But they didn't say a single word on these topics."The RBI did not respond to an email seeking comment on the meeting
with economists.Some economists pointed out that food inflation could begin inching up after September if monsoon rains were not sufficient,
but was unlikely to push retail inflation past the RBI's 4 per cent target.Consumer inflation was at 2.57 per cent on-year in February as
food prices continued to fall for a fifth straight month.The economists also raised concerns over a slowdown in global growth that has hurt
India's outbound shipments grew 2.4 per cent annually in February, slower than 3.7 per cent in January."Overall, the view was that the
downside risks to growth have increased since the last policy while inflation risks have remained muted," said a third participant."Not many
of us clearly specified how much rate cut we wanted, but we presented the facts to make it clear to RBI that there was a need for a big
boost to the economy."Get the latest election news, live updates and election schedule for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on
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