By IANS
New Delhi : Leaders of Indian industry are hopeful of a possible reduction in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) following rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve, a survey said Monday.
A day ahead of the credit policy review by the Reserve Bank of India, Indian industry honchos demanded policy support that would help in retaining the growth the country has been witnessing, the survey of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said.
The country’s top 285 CEOs told the survey that interest rates have reached their peak and are hurting industrial growth.
A whopping 90 percent of the CEOs said the continuous policy inaction of the regulator may hurt the confidence of the business community.
“The industry expects the central bank to undertake moderation in interest rates under the global as well as domestic compulsions,” said Venugopal N. Dhoot, president of Assocham.
The overall growth rate of manufacturing production has come down to 9.8 percent for April-November 2007 compared to 11.8 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The consumer durables sectors have recorded a decline of 1.7 percent for the eight-month period from Apr to Nov of fiscal 2007-08 as compared to the growth rate of 12.4 percent in Apr-Nov previous year.
“The 15 percent rise in rupee against dollar has also hurt the bottom lines of IT and ITes sectors, which may further witness some tough times with US economy slipping into recessionary phase,” Assocham said.