The mood in corporate India, a day before the country’s central bank and the government were to announce measures to boost the economy, is that of skepticism, anger and measured optimism on what the government may do.
“It’s difficult to build in any rational expectations. They have been erratic. In the credit policy review, they did not do anything but when the market fell by 1,000 points, they brought down rates by 200 basis points,’’ said Ramdeo Agarwal, MD, Motilal Oswal Securities.
“There’s no sense of urgency; they have been busy fighting inflation than buying growth. More than specific measures, what will be interesting to see is if there’s a change in this stance. They should seize this opportunity to boost growth,’’ said Agarwal. There’s also anger that despite liquidity, banks are not lowering rates.
“If there’s liquidity, why are banks not bringing down interest rates? They need to bring in sufficient liquidity so that bankers believe that liquidity will remain,’’ said Ajit Gulabchand, chairman, HCC, which builds dams, roads and bridges.
