We can't tell banks to provide credit or reduce rates

RBI GOVERNOR SANJAY Malhotra and deputy governors spoke on a wide array of issues during the post-policy press conference.

- CHRISTINA TITUS

Excerpts:

With the neutral stance, are you saying that there will be a long pause? Was there a voting on stance?

It will depend on data. A neutral stance means it can go either way. If the growth is weaker, it will go down. If the growth is good and inflation is going up, it can mean that the repo rate can go up.

So, it will depend on how the data, both on inflation as well as growth. There was a discussion on it (stance change) because we need to give a guidance. So, there was a discussion and all the six members were of the view that we should change it to neutral.

Are you satisfied with the monetary transmission that has happened so far?

Going by past trends, the transmission has happened much faster. In the money markets, in fact, there was a huge transmission of more than 50 basis points.