Contractionary Monetary Policy with Increasing Interest Rate : Needs to Pause to Observe its Repercussions
Contractionary Monetary Policy with Increasing Interest Rate : Needs to Pause to Observe its Repercussions
It is being observed that in India, RBI has been resorting to Contractionary Monetary Policy almost for last 6-months to chase Inflation.
Contractionary Monetary Policy in simple terms, is reducing money supply in an Economy by increasing Interest Rate.
When
Interest is increased, it is expected that more deposits would come to
Banks, Credit would be dearer resulting in reduced consumer spending,
that can go against the inflation.
Since
May 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has already done 3-Times hike
in Interest Rate, its Repo-Rate was increased from 4% to 4.4% in
May'2022, then to 4.9% in June' 2022 and again to 5.4% in August' 2022.
As
RBI increases its Repo Interest Rate ( it is the Lending Rate of RBI to
Banks ), the Commercial Banks also keep increasing their lending rate, a
safe margin of 3-5 % easily, is the corollary for Retail Borrowing
and further higher for Corporate/Industrial/ Institutional Borrowings.
To
chase Inflation by Contractionary Monetary Policy always is not the
best option because, the most notorious effect of Contractionary
Monetary Policy is -Unemployment.
Federal
Reserve adopts Contractionary Monetary Policy often and at repeated
intervals because they in USA are on a different footing, and are tapping the
Global Markets to their advantage. Recently Federal Reserve has done
tightening of its interest rate by adopting Contractionary Monetary
Policy that has made USD to appreciate and causing also havoc to other
currencies including Indian Rupee.
The Gauge of
Inflation always starts with Food Inflation, it is more so in India.
The Food Inflation in India is also not solely due to Extra-Supply of
money in the economy, we have various other factors like Seasonal
Natural Calamities like Floods, Harvesting Season and Lean Season, as
we have mediocre supply chain infrastructure and storage conditions,
that brings in Food Inflation Seasonally.
RBI
has called for its Monetary Policy Meeting on 03-November-2022,
however, further tightening of Interest Rate having done 3-times in last
6-months, should not be the temptation to chase inflation only.
We
have a huge population to feed and Unemployment as the consequence of
Contractionary Monetary Policy may have more detrimental effect for
India as well.
We are not obliged to
follow the Foot Steps of Federal Reserve for that matter, while their
Economy and Indian Economy operate on different footings, strengths and
weaknesses, Increasing Interest Rates in Indian context has to be
exercised with lot of caution as Unemployment would be the biggest pit
fall out of it for India.
About the Author : Dr. Nimain Charan Biswal is a
B.Sc.(Agri. Science and Technology), M.B.A. and Ph.D.(Management Area ) by
qualifications; and he has 36+ years of work experience in both industrial and
development sectors in diversified fields of social importance. He has been
educated at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT)-Bhubaneswar,
Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and Gujarat University (with
Resource Support of IIM-Ahmedabad). He is further educated at IIM-Calcutta, XLRI-Jamshedpur,
Apple Computer Industries and Spar Inc., USA. He has worked for reputed
National and International Organizations in Senior/Top Management Capacities at
Board level as well as Managing Director and CEO. He is a management expert
covering extensive areas from management in industrial sectors, management in
agriculture and dairy, development management to management of public systems.
He is a prominent professional of India and known Internationally as well. He
lives at Mumbai in India.
Comments
Post a Comment