Living With The Pandemic Has Improved The Way We Manage It: Shaktikanta Das
Working from home and virtual meetings are the new normal in these times The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee kept the key rates unchanged "Courage and conviction will conquer Covid-19," the RBI Governor said
Living with the pandemic has improved the way we manage it, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said in his virtual address to media, as working from home, virtual meetings and "contactless" transactions have become the new normal in the Covid-19 world. Drawing from Mahatma Gandhi's inspirational words, "If our resolve is firm and our conviction clear, it would mean half the battle won....", Shaktikanta Das reiterated that he continued to be an eternal optimist.
"Throughout this traumatic period, one thing has stood out - the indomitable spirit of humanity, the inner conviction that whatever be the challenge, we have the innate resilience to combat them, overcome them and emerge victorious," the Reserve Bank of India Governor emphasized.
Meanwhile, the Governor Shaktikanta Das said the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to keep the key rates unchanged and maintain an "accommodative" stance for "as long as necessary to revive growth and mitigate the impact of COVID-19, while ensuring that inflation remains within the target going forward".
The repo rate - or the rate at which the RBI lends short-term funds to commercial banks - remains at 4.0 per cent and reverse repo rate - or the rate at which the RBI borrows - is at 3.35 per cent.
The novel coronavirus has affected over 19 lakh and claimed over 39,000 lives in India so far, according to the information provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The RBI Governor said the "war against COVID-19 is most intense at the current juncture and the world is bracing up for a second wave as it cautiously opens up". He said the regulatory response has to be "dynamic, pro-active and balanced", and the RBI will "remain alert and watchful and collectively do whatever is necessary" to revive the economy and maintain financial stability.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das also alluded to the fact that RBI is perhaps the only central bank in the world which has set up a special quarantine facility for continuity of critical operation
In April this year, Shaktikanta Das had quoted Mahatma Gandhi's London's Kingsley Hall speech to the effect that "...in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists."
The Governor concluded on an optimistic note that "courage and conviction will conquer Covid-19."
