RBI’s rate cut and 3-month pause on EMIs fails to excite Indian stock markets

• BSE Sensex shed over 930 points and was down to 29,506.03 from 30,936 in early trade.
  
• Nifty lost over 400 points and was trading at 8,589 levels.
  
• The 3-month moratorium on EMI's of loans did help the banking stocks to soar high.

After RBI governor Shaktikanta Das announced that FY20 GDP growth outlook of 5% is now at risk, the BSE Sensex shed over 930 points to 29,506.0. Nifty lost over 400 points and was trading at 8,589 levels.

Even the fact that he announced a 75-basis point rate cut did not move the markets in the right direction. “The last quarter of 2019-20 was expected to grow at 4.7%. It is now at risk. If everyone follows the rules” to contain the virus, some of the growth worries can be reduced,” said Das.


However, RBI which injected ₹3.74 lakh crore through all its announcements today, had a positive impact on banking stocks which were being hammered for the last few weeks. Axis Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank were among the top 10 gainers in the NSE list.

The reverse repo rate which is the rate of interest RBI pays banks for parked funds, saw a sharper cut. This will incentivise the banks to lend more.

"Banks have been depositing ₹3 lakh crore daily with the RBI in the last few days," Das said while citing that credit flow has stopped. This move might help banks chase more business as it has been reeling under defaults and other stress for the last one year.

Indian stock markets did open on a higher note today morning thanks to the $2 trillion stimulus in the US and expectations from the Indian central bank’s announcements.


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