Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das announced on Monday, while reading out the monetary policy statement after a 3-day deliberation, that Banks will now be able to issue RuPay Prepaid Forex cards. It will expand the reach and acceptance of RuPay cards internationally.
Governor Shaktikanta Das said RuPay Debit and Credit cards issued by banks in India are gaining increased acceptance abroad. "It has been decided to allow banks to issue RuPay Prepaid Forex cards. Indian travellers would have more payment choices thanks to this. Also, RuPay cards would be available for issuance in international countries, RBI goveror said.
Meantime, central banks's monetary policy committee unanimously decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 percent. The repo rate is the rate of interest at which RBI lends to other banks. The RBI may have decided to again pause the main interest rate due to the ongoing decrease in inflation, which is currently at an 18-month low. The majority of observers had predicted that the RBI would hold the repo rate same.
Many countries , especially mature ones, have concerns about inflation, but India has done a good job of controlling its trajectory. The repo rate had been halted by the RBI during its April meeting, the first in 2023–2024. With the exception of the halt in April, the RBI increased the repo rate by a total of 250 basis points, or 6.5 percent, since May 2022 in an effort to combat inflation.
Raising interest rates is a monetary policy provision that charatescally helps suppress demand in the economy, thereby helping the inflation rate decline
Regarding the GDP projection, the RBI projects 6.5% GDP growth for India in 2023–2024, with Q1 GDP growth of 8%, Q2 GDP growth of 6.5%, Q3 GDP growth of 6%, and Q4 GDP growth of 5.7%. Shaktikanta Das, governor of the RBI, stated that the central bank views the risks associated with these GDP figures as evenly balanced while reading the monetary policy statement today.
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