Transmission mechanism of monetary policy in India - An Expost Study

Abstract

The transmission mechanism of monetary policy is correlated to lending which expands aggregate demand in the economy. The banking system form an important place in the monetary policy transmission. The channels of monetary policy transmission are: Interest Rate Channel, Credit or Loan Supply Channel, Exchange Rate Channel, and Asset Price Channel. The financial prices include interest rates, exchange rates, yields, asset prices, and equity prices, and the financial quantities consists of money supply, credit aggregates, supply of government bonds and foreign denominated assets. RBI uses various monetary policy frameworks over the years which is classified as pre-monetary targeting (1947 to 1984-85), monetary targeting (1984-85 to 1997- 98), Multiple Indicators approach (1998-99 to 2014), Inflation Targeting (from 2013 onwards), and Flexible Inflation Targeting (FIT). MCLR also drastically decreased for all these banks from 2019 to 2021. The external benchmark has increased for the three types of banks from 2019 to 2021. The repo rate gives a contrast data between pre and post FIT periods. The financial system is not fully developed which is a hindrance to the transmission mechanism. The cost of lending, issues in bond market, and pandemic situation related problems requires an appropriate transmission mechanism in the monetary policy of our country.