What is CRR or Cash Reserve Ratio?

What is the Cash Reserve Ratio?

Cash Reserve Ratio is a legal reserve requirement of the Reserve Bank of India. According to the Legal Reserve Requirements or variable reserve ratio method, commercial banks are obliged to maintain reserves. It is a very quick and direct method for controlling credit creating the power of commercial banks. Commercial banks are required to maintain reserves on two accounts.

1. Cash Reserve Ratio(CRR) 
2. Statutory Legal Reserve Ratio(SLR)

 Cash Reserve Ratio(CRR) refers to the minimum percentage of net demand and time liabilities, to be kept by commercial banks with the central banks. It is decided by the central bank. A change in CRR affects the credit creating power of the commercial banks. An increase in CRR means that the commercial banks must keep reserves with the central bank which reduces the excess reserves of commercial banks and limits their credit creating power. Banks do not get any interest on the money that is with the RBI under the CRR requirements.

Objectives of Cash Reserve Ratio

There are two primary objectives of the CRR:

• It ensures the security of the amount. It makes it readily available when required.
• It helps in keeping inflation under control. To fight against inflation RBI increases the rate of CRR and vice versa.

Statutory Liquidity Ratio(SLR) is somehow different from CRR. SLR refers to a minimum percentage of Net Demand and Time  Liabilities(NDLT) to be kept by the commercial banks with themselves. It is also determined by the central bank. 

The Net Demand and Time Liabilities or NDTL shows the difference between the sum of demand and time liabilities (deposits) of a bank (with the public or the other bank) and the deposits in the form of assets held by the other bank

Open Market Operation

What is an Open Market Operation?

Open Market Operation(OMO) refers to buying and selling of government securities by the central government from or to the public and commercial banks of a country. In India, Reserve Bank of India(RBI) is authorized to sell or purchase treasury bills and government securities. It is a credit control method of RBI. As RBI has the sole monopoly in currency issues, it can control credit and supply of money. For this RBI uses this method to control the credit in the economy.

• The sale of securities by the central bank reduces the reserves of commercial banks. It adversely affects the bank's ability to create credit and therefore decreases the money supply in the economy. Selling securities removes the money from the system and making loans more expensive and increasing interest rates.
• The purchase of securities by the central bank increases the reserves of commercial banks and raises the bank's ability to give credit. The central bank is able to increase the money supply and lower the interest rate by purchasing the securities. Buying securities adds money to the system and making loans easier to obtain and simultaneously interest rates decline.

What is Repo Rate and Reverse Repo Rate

What is Helicopter Money

WHAT IS HELICOPTER MONEY?

'Helicopter Money' is an unconventional monetary tool. It involves printing large sums of money by the central bank of a country i.e. RBI in case of India, on the demand of the central government and distributing to the public free of cost. Sometimes suggested it as an alternative to the quantitive easing when the economy is in a liquidity trap(when the interest rate is near zero and the economy is in a recession). The name 'Helicopter Money' first coined by the economist Milton Friedman in 1969. Friedman used the term to signify ''unexpectedly dumping money onto a struggling economy to shock it out of a deep slump.''

It is a direct money supply into an economy through the government. The basic aim of Helicopter Money is to increase the demand for money as well as inflation. In this monetary tool, the central government doesn't have any liability on this money supply,i.e. the government does not have to pay any interest or to issue bonds to the central bank against this supply of money.

Quantitive Easing Vs Helicopter Money

As monetary policies of the central bank, Quantitive Easing and Helicopter Money involves money creation by the central bank to expand the money supply. But there is a difference between both.  Under Quantitive Easing central bank lends money to the central government in exchange for bonds or other financial assets but in Helicopter Money, the central bank lends money to the government without taking any interest or purchase bonds. The effect on the balance sheet of the central bank of Helicopter money is somehow different from the quantitive easing. In QE central bank gives money by purchasing bonds or any financial assets of the government but in Helicopter Money, the central bank gives away money without increasing the assets on their balance sheet.

Disadvantages of Helicopter Money

• Helicopter Money is not feasible in the long run to revive the economy.
• It will create over inflation. The central banks can not use any interest rate to recover any cost. It is not linked with any borrowed asset.
• Another most important demerit of  Helicopter Money is a devaluation of the currency. When the supply of money increases into the economy eventually the supply of the domestic currency also increases and as a result of its value in the international market will eventually fall. 

Operation Twist

what is RBI's Operation Twist?

'Operation Twist' is a monetary policy operation adopted by the central bank of a country to revive the growth of the economy. It is the RBI's simultaneous selling of short term securities and buying long term securities through Open Market Operation(OMO). It will purchase long term government bonds, i.e maturing in 2029 and simultaneously sell short term government bonds, i.e maturing in 2020. Reserve Bank of India(RBI) will conduct purchase and sell of government securities for Rs 10000 crore each through OMO.

Under this mechanism, short term securities transitioned into long term transition. When there is a long term investment deficit and investors are hesitant to invest in long term securities, then the government is using this tool to revive the economy by lowering the long term interest rate.

'Operation Twist'  first appeared in 1961 as a way to strengthen the U.S. dollar and stimulate cash flow into the economy.

Why Operation Twist is conducted?

If there is a shortfall in long term investment in the and the investors are reluctant to do long term investment in the economy, then the government reduces interest rates for the long term investment.
Long term investment will create jobs which would increase the demand for other products. Hence, due to this, holistic development would take place.

How does RBI's'Operation Twist' work?

There is an inverse relationship between bond prices and their yields. Yield is the return of an investor gets on his investment/holding. When RBI buys long term securities, their demand rises which in turn increases their prices. However, the bond yield comes down as price increases. The rate of interest of an economy is determined by yield. Lower the bond yield indicates a lower interest rate. Thus, lower interest Rate means people can avail long term loans i.e. buying a house, cars etc.at a low-interest rate. However, the cheaper retail loan can help to encourage consumer spending which in turn revives the economic growth of a country.

Benefits of Operation Twist

Investors will take more loans in the long term investment because of low-interest rates. Therefore the flow of money will increase in the economy and aggregate demand in all sectors will boost. As a result, more job opportunities will be created and economic growth will take place.

Thus, RBI's 'Operation Twist' is a positive sign for the growth of an economy. It will boost investment and atmosphere of job creation can be ensured in the economy.

Relationship between Bond price and Market Interest Rate

Bond is an instrument through which an investor gives loans to a company or government that pays an investor a rate of return over a specified period of time. An investor or simply an individual buys a bond from a company or government at a definite amount and the bond issuer promises to return the amount with the rate of interest to the investor at end of the time frame.
There is an inverse relationship between Bond price and market interest rate. when the rate of interest increases then the bond price falls and vice versa. Let's take an example to understand this concept, suppose you purchase a bond for Rs 100 at 5%  per annum. At the end of the year, you will get Rs105. Now suppose after 6 months(before completion of maturity) interest rate increased to 10% from 5%, you will try to sell this bond and purchase a new bond which gives you10%. But when you will go to sell the bond, no one will interest to buy the bond at 5% because they are getting 10%. So at that time, they will ask you to decrease the bond price from Rs100 through which they can compensate for the loss. So when the interest rate increases, the bond price falls.

Energy security in INDIA: Challenges and Opportunity

ENERGY SECURITY IN INDIA: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITY                                                                            

“Save Energy today to use it tomorrow.”

Energy is an integral for individual and collective growth and development. A nation cannot grow without the availability of energy. In every nation, the energy demand is growing gradually and India is not exceptional. Each and every country is very concerned about this growing demand for energy. A nation is to be energy secure only when it can meet the energy needs of its citizens in an affordable and sustainable manner. The International Energy Agency (IEA) defines energy security as an “uninterrupted availability of energy source at affordable price.”
We have defined energy security in the Indian context as “reliably providing energy access to all citizens in an economically viable and environmentally sustainable manner.” As far as India is concerned energy security originates from the growing imbalance between the demand for energy and its supply from indigenous sources resulting in increased import dependence. Energy consumption is a necessary condition for economic growth, therefore it is acknowledged the important challenges to India’s energy security which are both internal and external in nature. Internally, India has a limited resource base and lack of adequate infrastructure, etc. while external lies in getting a continuous supply of energy at reasonable prices as domestic production is low but demand is high. India’s energy consumption is 3.5% of the world’s global energy consumption and which is likely to 10% by 2031. India is not effectively said energy secure because somehow all citizens cannot fulfill their energy needs in an affordable and sustainable manner. India is not the country with a lack of energy resources, India is rich in resources but the paucity of effective technology and infrastructure the country doesn’t meet the growing demand of the energy needs of the people.

TYPES OF ENERGY

Energy is categorized as Conventional and Non-Conventional.

Conventional sources of energy includes Coal, Petroleum, natural gas etc. while Non-Conventional sources consists of Solar, Wind, Geothermal and Biogas energy.

India is facing several challenges in the energy sector

Conventional sources of energy includes coal, petroleum, natural gas, etc. These are the major sources of energy in India in industrial as well as in domestic sector. In every
year the consumption percentage are increasing. In present era majority of the people use electricity, the transportation and also industrial sector is modernized e.g. every person ride motor vehicles, electrified machines and equipment are used in every industries etc. To fulfill these growing demands of energy needs, the country has to depend on other countries. That is why India is not said to be a fully energy secure country itself.

Oil and Gas Sector: India is the world’s third-largest energy consumer with oil and gas accounting for 37.3% of the total energy consumption. The high economic growth in the past few years and burgeoning population have created a lot of concern for India’s energy scenario. India has 0.5% of the oil and gas resources of the world and 15% of the world’s population. This makes India heavily dependent on the import of crude oil and natural gas. India’s crude oil production has not shown significant growth in the last 10 years. The country accounted 4.8% of the total world’s oil consumption in 2016-17. The estimated total consumption of crude oil in India rose from 156.10 MMT in 2007-08 to 245.36 MMT in 2016-17. The country accounted for 1.41% of total world natural gas consumption in 2016-17. The largest consumer of natural gas are the fertiliser industry and power generation in India. 14.47% of natural gas is consumed as a domestic fuel. So, there is a huge gap between the production and consumption of oil and natural gas. Therefore to meet this growing demand India is highly dependent on the import of crude oil and natural gas. Although 70% of its crude oil and petroleum product requirement is met from imports. It rose from 121.67 MTs in 2007-08 to 213.93 MTs during 2016-17. Similarly, the gross import of natural gas increased from 8.32 BCM in 2007-08 to 18.63 BCM in 2016-17. Gas is an important source for electricity generation in India and India’s electricity sector consumed 24.28% of the natural gas produced in the country in 2016-17. The oil and natural gas sector holds key importance in India’s energy sector. But highly dependence on imports itself a big challenge for India’s energy security and due to dependency the price of oil and petroleum products is very high and it makes a burden on Indian people and also hampers the Indian economy.

Coal sector in India: Coal is the backbone of India’s economic developmental growth. India has the world’s fifth-largest coal reserves and is also world’s third-largest producer and importer of coal. The issue for India is that the gap between domestic supply and demand is growing at a phenomenal rate. In India coal is largely used in
power plants, used as cooking fuel for production of cement, steel etc. To meet this growing needs for coal, the import is increasing year by year. As per government data, in FY18, India’s thermal coal imports rose by 8% and cooking coal imports by 13% for the year 2018. Imports of thermal coal is mostly used for power generation rose to 161.27 million tonnes for the year 2018 from 149.31 million tonnes of the previous financial year. India bound shipments of cooking coal used mainly for manufacturing steel rose by 47 million tonnes. Higher demand for thermal power and lower than required growth in domestic coal output may push coal imports to 62 million tonnes for the FY19 from 56 million tonnes in FY18. This increasing import of coal leads a big issue for India’s energy security.

Another major challenge is faced by India in terms of energy security is that the country doesn’t effectively utilize the Non-conventional or Renewable sources of energy as an alternative. India is highly dependent only on oil, gas and coal sector which results India doesn’t meet the needs of growing energy demand. India is abundant in renewable resources. This unutilized renewable resources is itself a big challenge for India.

In the recent years, the Hydro Power generation has fallen down. The availability of electric power is an essential requirement for the development of a nation. Hydropower and renewable sources of power are the best forms of energy security. But the percentage of hydropower has come down from 45% in 1970 to 16% in 2014. The water and other forms of renewable sources are wasted every day by not utilizing properly as these sources cannot be stored future use. Indian rivers carry more than two-thirds of their annual flow in three monsoon months, these are wasted continuously which can be converted to energy. In India there are very few numbers of dams to generate electricity and it cannot meet the needs. There is a need to increase and shift dependence on hydropower for the development of the nation. To meet this growing needs of hydroelectric power India has to developed mega hydropower projects and shift it to possible source which is essentially required.
The key differentiating factor that use of energy sources is environmental friendliness. In nowadays developed nations adopt renewable energy project for concern of environment friendliness. In developing nations renewable energy projects are adopted to reduce the demand-supply gap of energy. But countries like India, sustainability is also important. In setting up the renewable energy projects, India is facing various important challenges.

One of the biggest challenges in renewable energy development is the high initial cost of installation. Development of a coal-based power plant requires around Rs 4 crore per MW while the installation required for wind and solar power based plants is significantly higher. High cost associated with renewable energy projects necessitates further research and technological developments in this area, a comprehensive policy framework is necessary.
Proper system planning and integration are other aspects. In terms of the nature of renewable energy projects, the capacity, and type of project are to be decided where the availability of energy sources can be ensured. The factors like weather conditions, number of sunny days, wind condition etc. play an important role in planting the project. Solar thermal power plants is the most important source of renewable energy and it is the best alternative to power generation. But there arise some problems in the implementation of the projects in a country like India. Solar thermal power plants need detailed study and technology identification along with proper solar radiation resource assessment. The current status of international technology and its availability and financial and commercial feasibility in the context of India is not clear. Like solar energy Wind energy is also a very good source of renewable energy. Through it, we can generate power in an environmentally sustainable manner. But the problem arises in the installation process. The cost of installation of wind energy is very expensive. Another issue is the wind speed which may vary within a minutes and affect the power generation and increases high speeds may results in overloading of generator. Electricity production depends on wind speed location, season and air temperature. Hence various monitoring systems are needed and may cost expensive.

To build India an energy secure country people will also change their typical mindset. Rather than using renewable energy they are highly interested in fossil fuel or standard energy source. They are not fully concern about the environment, never try to save energy for future generation, they do not try carpool, bike pool, do not ride bicycles to save energy. In urban India, people are hesitated to plant solar plates, Biogas for household energy consumption, they think it will reduce their standard of living. Very few numbers of people are conscious about this matter. This type of typical mindset of people is also a big challenge for India in energy security.

Opportunities for energy security in India

As India faces lots of challenges in terms of energy security, in parallel there is various opportunities to be an energy secure nation. India is rich in resources but lack of effective technology and proper planning and policy formulation arise a question of energy security for future generations. But in nowadays India is taking several initiatives to be a country with energy secure. To mitigate the growing needs of energy demands and increasing environmental pollution, India is adopting various Renewable Energy Projects. To look into this projects, the government of India set up a separate ministry namely Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). This ministry is fully dedicated to developed in energy security and make the country environmentally less polluted by fulfilling the needs of its citizens. India aspires to a medium to long term strategy of implementing a strategic shift from fossil fuel to non-fossil fuels, from non-renewable to renewable sources of energy and from conventional to nonconventional sources of energy. Our energy is mix currently is 51% on coal, 36% on oil, 9% on natural gas and only 2% from hydropower and nuclear energy respectively. Presently India depend to the extent of 70% on imported oil which makes India vulnerable to external shocks. Diversification of sources of oil and natural gas supply is the key to the promotion of India’s energy security. Recently held 7th India Energy Congress (IEC) 2018 in Delhi is one step to the energy security for the future. The theme is that Energy 4.0: Energy Transition Towards2030.
India is heavily dependent on imports for conventional energy demands. So therefore it must shift the energy basket to the alternate fuels such as coal bed methane, Shale gas, Ethanol blended fuels, etc. Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) in India is a great initiative to the future energy security. Ethanol blending in petrol reduce vehicle exhaust emission and also to reduce the import burden on account of crude petroleum from which petrol is produce. It is estimated that a 5% blending result in the replacement of around 1.8 million barrels of crude oil. Ethanol blending first found mentioned in the Auto Fuel Policy of 2003. It suggested developing technologies for producing ethanol or biofuels from renewable energy sources and introducing vehicles to utilize these bio-fuels. National policy on Bio-fuels announced in 2009, oil companies were required to sell petrol blended with 5% of ethanol which is proposed to be increased to 20% in 2017. By this program, to some extent reduce the burden of crude oil dependency.

India is on its way to achieving the 175 GW target for installed renewable energy capacity by 2022. In order to achieve this target, the MNRE launched schemes on development of wind power project, onshore wind power projects, biomass gasifier for industries ,scheme for development of solar parks and ultra- mega solar power projects, grid-connected solar PV power plants on canal banks and canal tops and biogas based grid power generator programme. Among all the national solar mission is the most ambitious program. Which aims to promote solar energy for power generation with an effective cost competent with coal or gas-based power generation. Historic low tariff for solar (RS 2.44/unit) and wind (RS 2.64/unit) were achieved which is a big push to the renewable energy sector.
Government of India is promoting renewable energy by generation-based incentives, capital and interest subsidies, financial assistance for proving financial support to various schemes.

A major initiative has taken by government of India for promoting solar power 

* Capacity of the scheme for development of solar parks has been enhanced from 2GW to 40GW.
* Government of India makes a mandatory provision of rooftop solar for new construction or higher floor area ratio and rooftop solar as a part of housing loan by banks.
* Raising tax-free solar bands for managing equity to set up solar projects.
* Central financial assistance for setting up rooftop solar projects.
*Central financial assistance for setting up rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) up to 30% of the benchmark cost in residential, industrial and social sectors and up to 70% in special category states.
India is also geared up of promoting renewable energy by wind power project. In terms wind power installed capacity, India is globally 4th position. Since India has a long coastline, so by the approval of the National Offshore Wind Energy Policy there will be a great opportunity for India to developed offshore wind power projects. Recently in this perspective the National Institute for Wind Energy (NIWE) has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Gujarat and Rajasthan based on wind forecasting experienced of Tamil Nadu.

Bioenergy is also a good energy source to mitigate energy insecurity. In India there is an opportunity to promote bioenergy. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of Government of India has set the national target is to achieve 10 GW of installed biomass power by 2022. India has a potential of about 18GW of energy from biomass. Currently about 32% of total primary energy used in India is derived from biomass. To promote this energy sector more efficiently Government of India has to give financial assistance for developing biomass power projects such as installation from biomass combustion, biomass gasification and biogas co-generation. So the development of bioenergy gives ample relief to the energy sector in India.

Opportunity is not spontaneous, it is based on creation. So it is on us, how to create better opportunity for future. Renewable energy source is a very good alternative to build India an energy secure nation. India is blessed with natural resources and task is that it must be utilized effectively. India is also technically sharp, plentiful human resources. But lacking some shortage, India is suffering energy insecurity. If work more effectively on this opportunities India is said to be an energy secure nation in upcoming years.

To conclude by a quote “Renewable Energy: Plan for Energy Independence.” Based on the present global economic growth rates, fossil fuel energy resources may last a generation or two. Therefore the future of energy needs lies in renewable energy resources. The use of these resources, rather than dependence on fossil fuels, should be encouraged to meet the needs of the people. Nowadays the Government of India has taken the various environment-friendly initiatives to utilized its vast natural resources and filling the gap between the demand and supply of energy. In India FDI up to 100% is permitted under the automatic route for renewable energy generation and distribution projects. Bank loan is given to the borrowers up to a limit of 15 Crore for the purpose like a solar-based power generator, micro hydel power plants, etc. Therefore it is not possible to build India an energy secure nation without apply Government’s planning, initiatives in a real practice. So, in this perspective people should work as an agent and must aware of the energy uses and take part in making India as an energy secure nation globally.