RBI's New Year gift: CPI-linked savings certificate by month-end

MUMBAI: To offer a hedging option to investors who are getting a negative real rate of return due to high inflation, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan on Wednesday said the apex bank will launch the consumer price inflation (CPI)- indexed savings certificate product by this month end.

The rate of interest for the product’s inaugural run will be 1.5 percent above the annual average of the CPI.

“We are coming out with inflation indexed certificates (IISC) tied to the CPI this month. That will give savers the opportunity to invest in assets that produce real returns,” Rajan told analysts after presenting his mid-quarter policy review.

“The real return is being fixed at 1.5 per cent for this first roll out of IISC,” Rajan said.

CPI index rose to the nine-month high at 11.24 per cent for November on the back of an increase in food items.

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Rajan had earlier announced the product in his first interaction with reporters on the day of taking charge as the head of the central bank and announced that it will be launched by November.

The certificates will be second in a series of products after the Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIB) which have been launched to counter the effects of price rise for investors.

IIB is linked to the whole price index-based inflation.

Rajan on Wednesday reiterated that offering real rate of returns is very much on the mind of the central bank.

It can be noted that the negative rate of return is one of the main issues why investors are moving towards physical assets like realty and gold, which have driven away investors from financial instruments to physical assets like the high current account deficit and a worry about a potential asset bubble forming up.

PTI