INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
SBI's economists have urged RBI to maintain status quo on key rates in view of Omicron threatAs Coronavirus variant Omicron's threat
rises just days before the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy committee meeting scheduled between December 8 and 10, 2021,
State Bank of India's (SBI) economists have suggested delaying liquidity normalisation measures via reverse repo hike, thus indirectly
brought drastically in the recent months, SBI Research said in a note.It noted that the use of the reverse repo tool need not be limited to
the monetary policy announcement alone.SBI Group's chief economic adviser Soumya Kanti Ghosh said in a weekend note that with the
situation still evolving, a status quo on reverse repo rates may be maintained during the policy announcement scheduled later this week.This
is keeping in mind that the effective rate has already been pushed up with VRRRs (variable reverse repo repurchases) and the amount and
tenor of the same can be fine-tuned for the desired outcome, he added.Also, there has been calibrated progress towards liquidity
normalisation since the October policy with the amount parked in overnight fixed reverse repo declining to Rs 2.6 lakh crore from Rs 3.4
lakh crore at pre-October policy.
