GDP Growth May Cross 7% In 2022-23: RBI Governor

Investment revival

Mr. Das, who was speaking at the annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry, said that there was a private investment revival underway which was noticeable in sectors like steel and cement. He added that the industry body’s surveys suggest that capacity utilization in manufacturing is higher than the 75% level last estimated by the RBI.

“I don’t know whether they have shared the number with you, so I’m not mentioning it, but in our interaction last week in Mumbai, I was told it is clearly much more than 75%,” he said, adding that credit offtake from banks is also growing at a resilient 15.5%.

Evolving situation

On whether the coming monetary policy review could see another pause in rate hikes, Mr. Das said: “It’s not in my hands. It depends on the situation on the ground as it evolves.”

While some central banks have hit a pause on rate hikes in recent meetings, the Governor pointed out that the Bank of New Zealand had raised interest rates by 25 basis points earlier on Wednesday, while Canada — which had paused hikes — opted to increase rates again recently.

Mr. Das alluded to unaudited fourth quarter results (Jan-March 2023) from banks that suggested gross non-performing assets at the systemic level were even lower than the 4.4% recorded as of December 31, 2022. “But I would not like to mention the number because they are unaudited and we would rather wait for the audited figures to come in,” he added.