Y V Reddy's maiden Credit Policy on 3 November
Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India Governor Dr Yaga Venugopal Reddy will present his maiden mid-term review of the Monetary and Credit Policy for 2003-04 on 3 November. Bankers expect the new governor who took charge on 6 September, to continue the soft interest rate bias by cutting the benchmark Bank Rate and repo rate by at least 0.25-0.50 percentage points. Dr Reddy, who was earlier India's executive director to the International Monetary Fund, on taking charge from Dr Bimal Jalan, had promised "continuity with change in proper mix."

The last cut in the Bank Rate had been by 0.25 percentage point to 6 per cent in the April 2003-04 Credit Policy. The repo rate cut was snipped last in February 2003 following the Union Budget by 50 basis points to 4.5 per cent. Says the treasury head of a private sector bank: "We certainly expect a cut in both bank rate and repo rate. The government securities market has already discounted these cuts and will therefore not rally much if these cuts are announced."
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