Last Update: April 06, 2023, 12:49 pm IST
Indian equity markets on Thursday recovered from early losses after a surprise pause in rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) – which kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent, despite broad expectations of a 25 basis points (bps) hike. “The MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) took a unanimous decision to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent in this meeting of the MPC with readiness to act should the situation so arise,” said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das,
Nifty Realty was among the top performing sectoral indices today as the industry welcomed the decision, being hit by fall in demand due to high inflation and rising interest rates.
“The sector has seen many home loan interest rates reduced from 6.5 per cent to 8.75 per cent. Hence, any further hike in lending rates should be supportive of the current growth momentum in the housing sector,” said Shishir Baijal, chairman and managing director, Knight Frank India.
Nifty Realty rose over 2 per cent after the RBI governor’s announcement to keep the repo rate at 6.5 per cent.
“Contrary to general expectations, RBI today decided to keep repo rates unchanged at 6.5 per cent. This really bodes well for the residential real estate market, which faces a tough road amid massive layoffs by big corporates across the globe. India is no different from global economic dynamics and they have irreversible effects on the pace of housing here. RBI’s decision to keep repo rates unchanged has come as a welcome relief for homebuyers,” said Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock Group.
Puri said the pause in the rate hike is a relief especially to the affordable and middle class home buyers, who today were apprehensive of a possible rate hike, which would have made it more difficult to buy property through home loans.
Home loan rates have gone up after a steady increase in interest rates over the last one year, with the industry expecting further rate cuts.
Nifty Realty was up 2.13 per cent on Thursday ahead of the monetary policy decision with Godrej Properties, which jumped 4 per cent.
The MPC unanimously voted to keep the repo rate unchanged. After increasing rates continuously in the last 6 policies, it decided to take a pause. However, the governor highlighted that the MPC’s decision to freeze the repo rate is for this meeting only.
“While we have kept the policy rate unchanged, this decision was taken based on our assessment of macroeconomic and financial conditions in the context of information available till date. Our work is not over yet and the war against inflation must continue till we see a sustainable decline in inflation closer to the target.”
Disclaimer:Disclaimer: The views and investment tips given by the experts in this News18.com report are their own and not those of the website or its management. Users are advised to check with certified experts before taking any investment decision.
read all latest business news Here
