The interest rates are likely to go north as RBI has made inflation its priority over growth. The credit policy will be announced on November 2. The inflation rate for September stood at 8.62 per cent. At a meeting with the industry representatives on Monday, the RBI governor, Dr D. Subbarao, and three deputy governors, made it clear that inflation was the main problem and the policy would be benchmarked on it. The
industry’s stand was that
it needs breathing space because the growth rate was slowing down and so was private investment. Against a target for private investment of five to 13 per cent it was just seven per cent.