Chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian on Wednesday, welcoming the unscheduled repo cut by the RBI, described budget 2015-16 as a "balanced" one that makes institutional changes to spur growth without sacrificing macro-economic discipline.
"A major aspect of the budget is its balance, every budget is a political statement. This one looks after all interests and needs and has benefits especially for the poor and the middle class," Subramanian said at an interaction with the corporate world at the industry chamber FICCI.
The government last month signed a Monetary Policy Framework Agreement with the Reserve Bank of Indi that says the RBI will aim to bring retail inflation below 6% by January 2016, and to around 4% by fiscal 2016-17.
India's central bank on Wednesday cut its key lending rates by 25 basis points, expecting inflation to soften further in the coming fiscal. The repurchase (repo) rate at which the RBI lends to commercial banks stands reduced to 7.5% from 7.75%, while the reverse repo rate has been adjusted to 6.5% from 6.75%.
"The RBI statement echoes really what we have said in the economic survey that we should still view India as a recovering economy because other indicators of activity are still relatively weak," Subramanian said earlier on Wednesday.
"The RBI statement echoes really what we have said in the economic survey that we should still view India as a recovering economy because other indicators of activity are still relatively weak," Subramanian said earlier on Wednesday.