Reserve bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao on Thursday said that he expected inflation to moderate by July.
“While it is difficult to predict a precise road map for inflation, we expect it to moderate by July,” said Dr. Subbarao, speaking at the RBI's Central board meeting in Patna. Dr. Subbarao further said that he stood by the inflation rate figure of 8.5 per cent till the end of March.
Expressing concern over the sharply dipping credit-deposit (C-D) ratio for Bihar, Dr. Subbarao said that the RBI would try its best to improve the State's figure, which stood at a dismal 32 as against the national average of 71. According to the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) report for 2008-09, the credit-deposit ratio for the State had progressively fallen from 33.81 per cent in 2006-07 to 31.23 per cent in 2008-09, while banks in 13 districts had a C-D ratio of less than 25. Dr. Subbarao, however, said that Bihar had improved a lot in the last four years and that the State had an active Bankers' Committee. Commenting on issues of credit dispensation and branch expansion, Dr. Subbarao said that of the 534 blocks in the State, 15 did not have even a single branch of any commercial bank. “Efforts would be made to establish a branch soon in these areas,” he said. Dr. Subbarao also said that the other agenda for the RBI in Bihar was to increase the presence ofbanks in under-banked areas.
