The Centre is not contemplating any review of the administered interest rate regime now, according to Expenditure Secretary D Swarup.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference this evening, he said, "At the moment there is no proposal to review the rates".
The comments are significant as Finance Minister Jaswant Singh will present a vote-on- account for the first four months of 2004-05, where he is expected to outline the fiscal position of the Centre.
The Chief Economic Adviser in the finance ministry, Ashok Lahiri, said the inflation rate for 2003-04 would stay within the projected 4-4.5 per cent. He said it was to early to claim that the recent spike in inflation would continue.
Swarup said a committee under the chairmanship of the RBI deputy governor had been set up to assess the rates of interest and other aspects of small savings instruments.
Since the rates of interest on these instruments move only once a year, they become the benchmark for the entire economy. He said there was always a need to review earlier decisions factoring in the market.