One-day seminar on “Monetary Policy”

The welcome address was given by Prof. R.L. Bhatt, Department of Economics, Central University of Jammu. He spoke on Macro-economic Policy, Monetary Policy Committee and rise and decline of Monetary Policy, Economic scenario and policies of different countries especially India, RBI’s latest report on Monetary Policy, and listed the factors leading to the rise and fall of domestic growth such as hike in Interest rates, oil price hikes by a government coming into power, decline in the saving propensity in India due to saving behaviour of people, Global oil prices. He emphasized a cordial relationship between the government and the RBI which can offer viable resolutions to tackle problems. Dr. Janak Raj, Principal Adviser, Monetary Policy Department introduced the Monetary Policy Report further dividing it into five chapters namely: Monetary Policy Report on Growth, Monetary Policy Report on Inflation, Liquidity Management, External environment and Monetary Policy Report Outlook. Dr. Deba Prasad Rath, Adviser, Monetary Policy Department, in an interesting power-point presentation discussed in detail various topics such as Monetary Policy framework in India, Aggregate Demand, Output Gap, Monetary Policy Transmission Channels and the importance of Monetary Policy Committee approach towards its formulation. This was followed by a presentation by Mr Bipul Kumar Ghosh (RBI) who laid down the contribution of Agriculture (livestock, fishing and forestry) and Industry (electricity manufacturing) and at the same time discussed the Real GDP Growth, Real GVA (Gross Value Added) growth and the indicators of Investment demand. Mr Pawan Kumar (RBI) highlighted the Inflation development including Flexible Inflation Targeting, CPI Inflation, CPI Food and Beverages, CPI Fruit and Pulses Inflation, CPI Fuel, Petroleum products Inflation, Exclusion based CPI Inflation (y-o-y), CPI excluding Food, Fuel, Petrol, Diesel Inflation, CPI (y-o-y) of Goods and Services Inflation and finally the inflation expectations of households. Dr Sadhan Kumar Chattopadhyaya, Asstt. Adviser, Monetary Policy Department, elaborated on a number of important topics such as management of Liquidity during the years 2018-19, Liquidity Management, Monetary Policy Operation and its impact, Deposits and lending of Interest Rates, Non-food credit growth and the flow of financial resources to the commercial sector. He was succeeded by Ms Barkha Gupta (Research Officer, RBI) who drew attention to the slackening pace of global economic activity, global crude oil prices, recovering global food prices and monetary policy changers in the policy rate. The final presentation by Ms Jessica M. Anthony dwelled upon the baseline assumptions, growth projections and scenario analysis. The discussion session was an interactive one and the speakers answers answered many queries raised by the participants. The formal vote of thanks was given by Dr Komal Nagar, Joint Director(Seminars), IIPA J&K Regional Branch. The lecture was organized under the guidance of Er J B S Johar, Honorary Secretary and Sameer Rekhi Hony Secretary IIPA.