Indian economy under cardiac arrest, says Ajay Bagga

The government has take several applaudable steps to deal with the coronavirus crisis but not enough has been done to lift the economy, believes market expert Ajay Bagga. Speaking to Zee Business on Tuesday, Bagga said, “The economy has come under cardiac arrest. Everything has come to a halt. Only tasks that could be completed digitally, are being done. The steps taken by the government are positive. The lockdown in different states will help us curb the spread of coronavirus cases.”

He added that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should have cut the rates by now, taking a leaf out of Federal Bank’s book.

“No major announcement has been made on the economic front. The Reserve Bank of India should have announced at least one or two repo rate cuts by now. The US Fed has taken several steps like these and we should have done something similar,” Bagga said.

He added that within Asia, all the Central banks have taken major steps to deal with the decline and India is probably the only country where no major announcement has been made. 

“Hopefully, this will change in the coming days,” Bagga said.

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The Indian indices opened on a positive note on Tuesday with the Sensex rising over 1,200 points. This came a day after the Indian stock market logged the biggest ever single day fall. Healthy buying was witnessed in IT, FMCG and energy stocks.

Rupee also witnessed marginal recovery in early trade and appreciated by 18 paise to 76.02 against the US dollar on Tuesday tracking positive opening in domestic equities. At the interbank foreign exchange the rupee opened at 76.02, registering a rise of 18 paise over its previous close.