Overview

• The US will apply an additional 25% levy on Indian imports from Aug. 27, taking cumulative duties toward 50% and pressuring exports such as apparel, gems and seafood.
• Malhotra vowed to do “whatever is required” to support growth and said the RBI is examining ways to expand bank credit, including to sunrise sectors.
• The central bank underscored closer monitoring of banks and NBFCs to ensure credit growth remains sustainable given their outsized role in lending.
• After cutting rates by 100 basis points earlier this year, the RBI held the repo rate in August, with cooling inflation below the target band in July leaving room to ease if growth weakens.
• MPC member Saugata Bhattacharya cautioned that tariff uncertainty could delay private capex even as tax concessions, proposed GST changes and an S&P upgrade bolster domestic demand and capital flows.