Repo Rate cut to Loan Moratorium: What RBI has done so far to deal with Covid-19 fallout | India Business News

MUMBAI: From asking banks to put in place contingency measures to unscheduled policy review meetings to deep rate cuts, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken unprecedented measures to deal with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic after the first case was reported in the country on January 30.
Following is a chronology of the central bank’s key comments and actions from February till now:
* February 6: RBI made a passing reference to coronavirus outbreak in China; said softening of crude prices and bearish phase in equities due to coronavirus infections.
* March 3: Issued a statement on COVID-19 outbreak amid market volatility; said it is monitoring developments and is ready to take appropriate actions.
* March 6: Governor Shaktikanta Das said India will be able to respond to the challenges emerging out of the coronavirus epidemic, RBI ready to intervene in whatever way required.
* March 16: RBI writes to banks to ensure operational and business continuity measures, right after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
* Mid-March: The central bank constituted a crack team of 150 RBI officials to ensure smooth functioning of the financial system.
* March 27: RBI announced repo rate cut by 75 basis points (bps), reduction in CRR by 100 bps, long-term repo operations (LTRO) to infuse Rs 1 lakh crore liquidity and other measures after first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meet following the pandemic. The meet was preponed by a week.

It also announced three-month moratorium on all loan repayments till May 31.
* April 3: RBI reduced daily money market trading time to four hours from 10 am to 2 pm.
* April 17: The central bank slashed reverse repo rate by 25 basis points and other measures.
It also announced a special finance facility of Rs 50,000 crore for Nabard, Sidbi and National Housing Bank, targeted LTRO of Rs 50,000 crore and changes in NPA classification to exclude the 90-day moratorium period.

* April 27: RBI announced a Rs 50,000 crore special liquidity facility (SLF) for mutual funds.
* May 22: Shaktikanta Das announced repo rate cut by another 40 bps after second MPC meet, which was also preponed. It also extended the three-month moratorium on repayment of loans to banks by another three months till August 31.