The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Shaktikanta Das, on Friday said that it is important to strike a balance between lending and deposit rates. The RBI Governor was responding to a question posed by zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi in an exclusive interview on Friday.  

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Zee Business Managing Editor said it has often been noticed that whenever lending rates are hiked, EMIs rise immediately too, however, deposit rates do not increase in the same proportion.  

To which, Das said the external benchmarking introduced by the RBI ensures that there is a minimum gap between the two rates. Even deposit rates are also increasing, he said. "The rates at which banks offer loans are linked to lending rates. They work in tandem and increase or decrease in proportion to the lending rate or the rate at which banks offer loans," said the RBI Governor.   

We are reducing the gap between the increase in these rates through our liquidity management policy, which gradually pulls out excess liquidity in circulation.  

"This further puts pressure on banks to raise funds, which they do by increasing deposit rates. This has been happening and deposit rates will continue to rise in almost the same proportion to the lending rate hike," he added.  

Earlier, speaking on inflation, he said inflation has peaked out in India. In current scenario, global factors are playing out more on inflation in India.  

"It is a global phenomenon. Inflation has globalised. In India, it has peaked and will come down gradually over the time," he said.  

On growth and inflation, the RBI Governor said tackling inflation is the priority of the top bank. At the same time, we will try to ensure it does not affect growth much, he said.  

Shaktikanta Das said as far as India's growth is concerned, I am very confident.  

"We will keep monitoring it and take the necessary action as and when required," he said. 

He said slowing world economy will also impact the country, however, so far, we are progressing well on this front.  

On guidance, he said it is easy to give guidance when you cut interest rates, but the situation is changing rapidly and hence it will be difficult to say anything on this topic.  

He said we are performing well on the agriculture sector front, while India's position on forex reserve is also strong.  

Speaking on the devaluation of rupee, he said the Indian currency has fallen less in comparison to other currencies, while bank's capital adequacy ratio has also improved