Friday, March 11 2005 13:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today (Mar 11, 2005) said that inflation for the 2004-05 would be lower than estimated 6.5 per cent and the economic growth will be higher than projected 6-6.5 per cent.

"The inflation will be lower that what was anticipated in November and growth of the higher than projected in November" RBI governor Y V Reddy told reporters on the sidelines of the seminar organised by Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India (FIMDA) in Mumbai today (Mar 11, 2005).

RBI in the mid-term review of annual policy 2004-05 had raised inflation forecast to 6.5 per cent from 5 per cent estimated in May 2004 while it had lowered estimates for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 6-6.5 per cent from 6.5-7 per cent earlier.

The central bank would conduct a comprehensive review of monetary policy in the third week of April, Reddy said.

On the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for funding infrastructure projects, the RBI Governor said the market was ripe for long term paper to fund special purpose vehicle for infrastructure projects.

The Union Government has fixed the borrowing limit of SPV in 2005-06 at Rs 10,000 crore.