RBI to announce its decision on interest rates at 10 am today

Top of the Morning

In this episode, find out why US-based private equity firm Cerebrus is looking to buy bad loans from Yes Bank, also find out why Bharti Airtel is looking to raise tariffs this year

Business Term of the Day: Open market operation (OMO)
All eyes on Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee that is scheduled to announce its decision on interest rates. Governor Shaktikanta Das will be speaking at 10 am which will followed by a press conference at 12. Eight out of 12 economists expect RBI to hike reverse repo rate, the rate at which RBI borrow from banks to absorb liquidity. 4 economists expect rbi to keep reverse repo rate unchanged. Almost all expect rbi not to hike repo rate this tiem around. But  the bond market will be closely watching for  RBI’s commentary on liquidity and how it intends to manage the huge government borrowing program next year.   Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will address the post-budget meeting of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) central board on 14 February and highlight key points of the Union Budget, including the fiscal consolidation roadmap and high capital expenditure plan.   Cerberus Capital Management has emerged as the top bidder to acquire around ₹55,000 crore of bad loans from Yes Bank Ltd, with plans to transfer the assets to a jointly sponsored asset reconstruction company, said two people directly aware of the development. US-based Cerberus, one of the world’s largest distressed assets investors, is also likely to acquire a controlling stake in Blackstone’s International Asset Reconstruction Co. (IARC), which will be the investment vehicle for the transaction,   Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s second-largest telecom operator, may take the lead in raising tariffs to help push its average revenue per user (Arpu) to ₹200 in 2022, Airtel’s chief executive officer Gopal Vittal said during an analyst call on Wednesday following its December quarter earnings announcement.     Moving on to markets Indian indices may witness a flat to negative start today. The Wednesday session saw the markets extend gains for the second straight day global cues look positive for India. Wall Street rose sharply on Wednesday with boost from Big Tech. European shares gained on strong earnings. In Asia, the markets were mixed as shares in Japan and Australia rose, while Hong Kong, South Korea and Shanghai saw a decline. Oil’s rally has stalled around $90 a barrel, in part on the possibility that a nuclear deal with Iran could bring supply relief to a tight market.

Business Term of the Day Open market operation – Open market operations refer to the selling and purchasing of the treasury bills and government securities by the central bank of any country in order to regulate money supply in the economy. uying securities adds money to the system, making loans easier to obtain and interest rates decline. Selling securities from the central bank’s balance sheet removes money from the system, making loans more expensive and increasing rates.