For those surprised by India’s decision to hold interest rates last week, the central bank’s forward-looking surveys hold some explanation: demand in the world’s fastest-growing major economy may be cooling.
The capacity utilization rate, consumer confidence, and the outlook for demand in the manufacturing sector in the third quarter were less optimistic, the results of separate surveys released by the Reserve Bank of India show. That bodes ill for an economy already grappling with a weak rupee and elevated prices of crude oil -- the nation’s top import.
The tempering of optimism in the economy that expanded at 8 percent plus pace in the quarter to June was partly caused by tighter financial conditions, following back-to-back rate increases by the RBI until August and as the default by a systemically important financier plays out.
The International Monetary Fund retained its growth forecast for the $2.6 trillion economy at 7.3 percent in the fiscal year through March 2019. It lowered the projection for the next year to 7.4 percent, down from the 7.5 percent seen three months ago.
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