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RBI monetary policy: Rates kept unchanged for continued support to economy

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RBI monetary policy: Rates kept unchanged for continued support to economy

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept key interest rates unchanged for the tenth consecutive meeting on Thursday, maintaining an accommodative stance amid threats surrounding Omicron’s coronavirus variant.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said in a statement after a three-day meeting of the Mumbai Committee that the repo and reverse repo rates remained unchanged at 4% and 3.35%, respectively.

“India is charting a different recovery path than the rest of the world to become the fastest growing economy,” Das said.

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Das said the six-member rate committee, which has been suspended since August 2020, maintained its accommodative policy stance by a 5-1 vote, suggesting the economy needs continued support despite accelerating inflation. While maintaining his accommodative stance, he reiterated the “as long as necessary” phraseology used since October 2019.

“Monetary policy actions will be calibrated and clearly communicated,” Das said, stressing that there would be no surprises.

The central bank has cut repo rates by a total of 115 basis points (bps) since March 2020 to soften the blow from the coronavirus pandemic and draconian containment measures. That rate is now 250 basis points below where it was at the start of the easing cycle in early 2019.

The Reserve Bank of India lowered its inflation outlook for the next fiscal year to 4.5% from 5.3% this year. The central bank expects gross domestic product growth to slow to 7.8% in the next fiscal year, down from the government’s 9.2% estimate for this year.

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“Given the comfort from the inflation and growth outlook, especially the improved inflation outlook, and the uncertainty associated with omicron and global spillovers, the MPC believes that continued policy support is necessary for a durable and broad recovery,” Das said, according to Bloomberg.

Respondents in the Feb. 2-4 Reuters poll were split on the timing of the next rise, with 17 of 32 respondents slightly more than half expecting a 25 basis point rise to 4.25% in April.

Of the remaining 15, 13 were nearly split between June and August. Only one economist said it would happen as early as the beginning of this month, while another said it would happen in October of this year.

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Laid stars Stephanie Hsu and Zosia Mamet reveal the worst gifts their romantic partners gave them | Exclusive

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Laid stars Stephanie Hsu and Zosia Mamet reveal the worst gifts their romantic partners gave them | Exclusive

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Stephanie Hsu and Zosia Mamet talk about their new series Laid, and some of the horrors of dating as millennials.
Imagine a scenario where anyone and everyone you have ever been intimate with begins to die one by one. Is it a curse? If yes, then who is cursed? These are questions that Stephanie Hsu‘s Ruby battles with in the new zany comedy, Laid. Ahead of the show’s release, Stephanie and co-star Zosia Mamet spoke exclusively with HT about their roles, the show’s unique premise, and the horrors of dating as millennials. (Also read: Dune: Prophecy star Emily Watson on working with Tabu: ‘She is a true treasure’)

Stephanie Hsu on her character’s flawed morality

Laid, created by Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna, is the story of Ruby (Stephanie Hsu), who discovers that all her sexual partners are dying one by one, and she must warn them. Helping her in this unique quest is her best friend AJ (Zosia). The fun thing about Laid is that the protagonists are not the usual likeable characters. “She is totally an anti-hero of our story. I really love that,” says Stephanie, referring to Ruby’s moral greyness. “I am not a perfect person and I love playing flawed characters. But it was difficult. The creators told me that she is a total narcissist. But narcissists don’t think they are one, so I had to figure out a way to love her. For me, playing Ruby was about getting into her psychology and finding the innocent part of her – which is that she just wants love,” the actor adds.

While sitcoms usually add the best friend as the voice of reason trope, Laid diverges from that, with AJ even zanier and more morally ambiguous than Ruby. Talking about playing such a colourful character, Zosia Mamet says, “When you play not-so-likable or zany characters, people don’t believe they are that way. I don’t think AJ wakes up every morning and thinks, ‘I am absolutely crazy’. It’s about trusting the writing and finding an organic way into these characters to make them seem grounded, real, and relatable.”

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Stephanie, Zosia reveal the worst gifts they received from partners

In Laid, Ruby gives the gift of death to the men she is with, even if that is inadvertent. Ask the women about the worst ‘gift’ a partner has ever given them, and the discussions veer into the unusual horrors of modern-day dating. “I got a vintage wooden duck decoy from someone. It was broken, and I thought, ‘What does this say about our relationship?’. They didn’t know me well enough to know if I’d want this but also that they gave me something old and ailing,” Zosia says with a laugh.

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