RBI governor meets Mukherjee ahead of policy review

New Delhi, April 3 (IANS) Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao Tuesday met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the macro-economic situation, two weeks ahead of the monetary policy review.

"It was just a routine meeting. Next week I will come back and brief the finance minister about the macro-economic policy," Subbarao told reporters after the meeting.

The central bank is scheduled to announce the annual monetary policy review for 2012-13 on April 17.

The industry associations have been pushing for cuts in key policy rates to reduce the cost of credit and boost liquidity in the system.

During an interaction with the RBI governor, president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) Rajkumar Dhoot called for 0.75 percent cut in key policy rates.

"There is a need to cut the policy rates by at least 75 basis points," Dhoot told reporters.

The RBI last month cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the amount to funds that commercial banks are compulsorily required to hold as cash against their deposits, by 75 basis points to 4.75 percent.

This resulted in the release of an additional liquidity of Rs.480 billion into the system.

However, the central bank has left repo and reverse repo rates unchanged.

Dhoot said Indian industry was passing through a "difficult patch" and high interest rate was affecting investments and overall business confidence.