This is the fourth consecutive rate cut since February. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on August 7 cut the repo rate—its key lending rate—by 35 basis points to 5.40 percent and kept the door open for lowering rates further by retaining an “accommodative” policy stance, but flagged worries over weakening growth prospects. This was the fourth repo rate cut in as many policies since February 2019. This is also the first time when the benchmark lending rate has been changed by range other than multiples of 25 basis points. This signals a major departure from the prevailing practice, when the central bank had only lowered or raised rates in multiples of 25 basis points. “There is nothing sacrosanct about 25 basis points or its multiples thereof,” RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said during the post-policy press conference. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. The six member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by Das, however, saw emerging worry lines on...
The additional troop deployment, experts have stated, was in anticipation to any violence that might be expected after the Home Minister's statement in Rajya Sabha. With Union Home Minister Amit Shah on August 5 informing Parliament that the Centre proposes to abrogate Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, the repercussions of the move will be widespread and could continue to reverberate for some time to come. Internally, reports have stated that the government, having anticipated wide-scale turmoil in Kashmir Valley, had imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in parts of J&K, including Srinagar district as a precautionary measure. This meant a complete ban on holding any kind of public meeting or rallies. Mobile internet and landline services have been suspended in the Kashmir Valley. Satellite phones have been provided to officials.