India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has indicated that it will announce an issue of inflation-indexed bonds (IIBs) for launch on 4 June.

The government and the central bank have been concerned over rising gold imports into the country. Experts said that it is now known if the inflation-indexed bonds will be a substitute for gold or if it will simply complement investments in gold. They said that the IIBs will become an attractive investment option the yield offered will be determined by the market forces as the the investors will launch bids for the instrument.

Mumbai, May 15 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue inflation-linked bonds of Rs. 12,000 crore to Rs. 15,000 crore in the current financial year to protect the savings of the poor and middle classes from the general price rise and help curb gold imports.

The central bank said Wednesday it will begin the sale of the inflation-indexed bonds from June 4. In the first tranche, the RBI will issue bonds of Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000 crore. The bonds are a new type of debt that Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced in the budget in February.

In a bid to provide companies with easier access to cheaper funds for key infrastructure sectors, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday relaxed external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms.

The central bank said it extended the ECB relaxation for the housing sector from one year to two more years and for the aviation sector by a few more months.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reportedly found a string of anomalies and violations on several counts by banks.

The central bank, which had launched a probe in wake of Cobrapost's sting operations showing officials of nearly 33 public and private sector banks facilitating money laundering, found that non-compliance to Know-Your-Customer (KYC) norms, usage of dummy PAN cards, and unauthorized gold sales are widespread among banks.

In its latest monetary policy review, the central bank of India has announced a reduction in the repo rate by 25 basis points from 7.5 per cent to 7.25 per cent in order to improve liquidity and boost falling economic growth in the country.

Mumbai, May 11 : India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves decreased by $2.06 billion to $294.30 billion for the week ended May 3, according to data released by the central bank.

The reserves had risen by $1.60 billion to $296.37 billion for the week ended April 26.

The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - fell by $299.7 million at $263.72 billion, according to the weekly statistical supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India.

The FCA had risen by $1.61 billion at $264.02 billion in the previous week.

There is an urgent need to boost exports to narrow down trade deficit and arrest ballooning current account deficit, a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) panel suggested on Monday.

The RBI panel, which had been constituted under the Chairmanship of RBI Executive Director G. Padmanabhan to recommend ways for boosting financial support from alternative sources, said that exports needed urgent support as the global trade environment was unlikely to improve in the near future.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has assured that that it would use all tools at its command to contain the rate of annual inflation to five per cent by March 2014. However, the central bank didn't explain how it would achieve the target.

High rate of inflation has remained a big concern for the central bank for a long time. CPI inflation is still in double digits at 10.4 per cent, while the older index for industrial workers is at more than 11 per cent.

It is believed that the import of gold into India, which is the largest consumer of the metal in the world, would fall following a move by the central bank of the country place restrictions on the banks form purchasing gold form foreign markets.

India’s central bank has said that the high Current Account Deficit (CAD) is the biggest risk to the Indian economy at present and hinted that if the worrying trend continues then the monetary policy might be reversed.

RBI Governor D Subbarao said, “The biggest risk to the economy stems from the CAD which, last year, was historically the highest... Monetary policy will also have to remain alert to the risks on the account of the CAD and its financing, which could warrant a swift reversal of the policy stance.”

New Delhi/Mumbai, May 3 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its annual monetary policy for the 2013-14 financial year, announced Friday, cut its key policy interest rate by 0.25 percent.

The following are the experts' views on the RBI move:

S. Gopalakrishnan, president, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII):

"The decision of RBI to cut the policy rates by 25 basis points, the third time during the current year, in its annual policy review, sends a strong signal that the RBI is refocusing its priority in favour of growth in view of the moderating WPI based inflation and weakening demand in the economy."

The central government is planning to further relax the norms for raising funds through the external commercial borrowing (ECB) in the country.

The government is looking to relax borrowing norms for low-cost housing and infrastructure sectors like telecom and ports in the country to boost investment in the core sector. The move will allow Indian firms to borrow cheaper funds from abroad.

Mumbai, April 27 : India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves decreased by $485.9 million to $294.76 billion for the week ended April 19, according to data released by the central bank.

The reserves had risen by $1.40 billion to $295.24 billion for the week ended April 12.

The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - fell by $489.2 million at $262.41 billion, according to the weekly statistical supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The FCA had risen by $1.38 billion at $262.90 billion in the previous week.

Mumbai, April 6 : India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves decreased by $720.3 million to $292.64 billion for the week ended March 29, according to data released by the central bank.

The reserves had increased by $1.05 billion to $293.36 billion for the week ended March 22.

The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - fell by $689.4 million at $259.72 billion, according to the weekly statistical supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The FCA had risen by $1.06 billion at $260.41 billion in the previous week.

Proposals made by the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) doesn't seek to prune the powers of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), rather there will be more autonomy for the central bank, according to the commission's chairman BN Srikrishna.

Many experts, including some members of the FSLRC, have opposed proposals like keeping non-banking financial firms that do not accept deposits from public and debt management out of the RBI's control.

Banks' contingencies liabilities and off-balance sheet items should not be considered as part of priority sector lending, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.

Banks are required to lend 40 per cent of their total loans or adjusted net bank credit (ANBC) to the priority sector, which includes agriculture, exports, small manufacturing units and other weaker sections of the economy.

Mumbai, March 18 : The RBI is expected to go in for a 25 basis points rate cut Tuesday while reviewing the monetary policy to spur economic growth, say bankers and economists. They said they expect the RBI to continue cutting policy rates by 50-75 basis points till end of the calendar year.

However, they do not discount the possibility of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintaining status quo and deciding on rate cuts in the new fiscal.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is widely expected to cut the repo rate - the rate at which the central lender lends money to banks - by 25 basis points (bps) in its mid-quarter monetary review on March 19, but banks are unlikely to cut deposit rates this month.

As the financial year is near its end, requirement for funds is higher and the banks' are in the midst of attaining their respective deposit growth targets.

A day after the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) exposed serious discrepancies in the implementation of the Rs 52,000-crore farm loan waiver scheme, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordered banks to scan all beneficiaries.

The RBI ordered banks to verify if each & every beneficiary had qualified under the scheme. It stressed that the beneficiaries' lists needed complete verification, given the serious nature of observations made by CAG.

Industry members are expecting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut its key lending rates during its upcoming review meeting on 19 March, 2013 in order to revive the Indian economy.

The CEOs of various firms are expecting the central bank of the country to loose tis monetary policy and boost liquidity in the third largest economy in Asia. They believe that the lower interest rates will be able to boost investments in the country and help revive the economic growth.