Rate cut okay but banks need to do more to help exporters: EEPC India chairman Ravi Sehgal

Welcoming 25 basis points cut in the repo rate by the Reserve Bank of India, EEPC India chairman Ravi Sehgal felt that exporters were facing slowdown in global trade and thus would need an urgent supporting hand.

"Despite the third consecutive rate cut by the RBI, the transmission by banks has been rather low, reflecting more of a tokenism, than a substantive reduction in cost of lending, '' said Sehgal.

He further said, " While the new commerce and industry minister Mr Piyush Goyal has been pro-active in standing with the exporters, we expect banks to join the efforts in making Indian exporters more competitive in a global trade, marked by protectionism , slowdown and geo-political uncertainties".


Exports could not sustain the March 2019 growth of 11.8 per cent in April, when the overall export expansion was by a mere 0.6 per cent, making urgent measures imperative.