The Reserve Bank of India should reduce CRR and SLR to ease the stress on liquidity, HSBC Asia Pacific Director and India Country Head Naina Lal Kidwai said.
“We should see a reduction in Cash reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR). The last reduction was supposed to ease liquidity, but that did not happen because there was offsetting cash withdrawals,” she told reporters here today.
She said inflation was sticky due to supply side constraints.
“Huge borrowing programme of the government could crowd out the private sector and given the tight liquidity scenario, we may see a further easing of the CRR,” Kidwai said.
By doing that, the RBI would be able to inject money into the system, she said.
The RBI is to announce the annual monetary policy on April 17.
She added that in India CRR and SLR components were amongst the highest in the world at 28.5 per cent of total bank deposits.
“Both should be brought down and that will significantly infuse money into the system,” Ms Kidwai said.
She said the RBI was in difficult situation with the industry clamouring for interest rate cut and growth stalling.
The RBI recognised that growth to be an issue while inflation was still a matter of concern, she added.