TIL Desk/Business/Mumbai/ Weakness in the rupee does not offer a sufficient alibi for a rate hike and the Reserve Bank may go for a status quo at the policy review next month, a Japanese brokerage said Friday. The markets have priced in tightening as well, but it is unlikely to materialise, Nomura said in a report.
“Because of the RBIs inflation-targeting mandate, currency weakness in itself may not provide a sufficiently strong argument for rate hikes,” its economists said. It added that the August inflation data release has also surprised on the downside, with headline CPI inflation moderating to 3.7 per cent from 4.2 per cent in July.
The economists gave a 60 per cent probability for RBI staying on hold, they said, adding that “one cannot rule out” a hike on currency weakness and higher oil prices. Unlike in 2013 round of rupee depreciation, which was driven by “idiosyncratic factors”, the troubles for the rupee are driven largely by global factors in the current round, it said.
“With currency weakness largely driven by global factors and the real rate cushion already quite high in India, monetary tightening is not necessarily an effective instrument for limiting currency depreciation,” they said.
