Knitwear exporters have expressed their disappointment over the RBI’s stand in keeping the key rates unchanged.
Reacting to the RBI’s credit policy, A. Sakthivel, President, Tirupur Exporters’ Association, said that SME units had lost their competitiveness in the international market because of the high interest rate prevailing in the country.
“Banks in Tirupur district could achieve only 75 per cent of their credit target during the last fiscal. (Against the credit target of Rs 3,661 crore, banks had achieved only Rs 2,742 crore). Poor off-take of credit could partly be due to the high rates apart from market conditions,” he said and stressed on the need lowering the interest rate.
The exporting community was expecting the RBI to announce a 0.5 per cent cut in key rates. That this did not happen seems to have disappointed the exporters.
While expressing his disappointment, Sakthivel reiterated the sector’s plea for a separate chapter for the exporting unitsto save them from inflationary pressures.