Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday invoked Lata Mangeshkar's Song “aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai” to remain optimistic in the uncertain times of the pandemic, while announcing the monetary policy decision.
Reserve Bank of India kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent and decided to continue with its accommodative stance in the backdrop of an elevated level of inflation.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday invoked Lata Mangeshkar's Song “aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai” to remain optimistic in the uncertain times of the pandemic, while announcing the monetary policy decision.
"If the last two years of living with the virus have taught us anything, it is to remain humble, but grounded in self-belief, never losing confidence and optimism. As the great Lata Mangeshkar – whom we lost recently – sang in her immortal voice: “aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai”. Together with the spirit behind the next line of this beautiful song, she has conveyed an eternal message of optimism," Das said.
RBI Governor added that we are living in a world of "Knightian Uncertainty" that is lack of any quantifiable knowledge about some possible occurrence, as opposed to quantifiable risks.
"We are living in a world of Knightian uncertainty2 in the absence of determinate knowledge about the next mutation of COVID-19. The ability to forecast the future course of the economy is so contingent on the evolution of the virus that one prognosis is as good or as bad as the other and as ephemeral," Das said.
Reserve Bank of India kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent and decided to continue with its accommodative stance in the backdrop of an elevated level of inflation.
This is the tenth time in a row that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has maintained the status quo. RBI had last revised its policy repo rate or the short-term lending rate on May 22, 2020 in an off-policy cycle to perk up demand by cutting the interest rate to a historic low.
RBI retained its growth projection at 9.2 per cent and inflation at 5.3 per cent for the current financial year.
Retail inflation rose to a five-month high of 5.59 per cent in December from 4.91 per cent in November, mainly due to an uptick in food prices.
MPC has been given the mandate to maintain annual inflation at 4 per cent until March 31, 2026, with an upper tolerance of 6 per cent and a lower tolerance of 2 per cent.