What is Inflation?

Inflation is defined as an increase in the price of bunch of Goods and services that projects the Indian economy. An increase in inflation figures occurs when there is an increase in the average level of prices in Goods and services. Inflation happens when there are less Goods and more buyers, this will result in increase in the price of Goods, since there is more demand and less supply of the goods. Inflation causes increase of Interest Inflation can be recognized as a combination of 4 factors :

The Supply of money goes up The Supply of Goods goes down Demand for money goes down Demand for goods goes up

Cost-Push Inflation Aggregate supply is the total volume of goods and services produced by an economy at a given price level. When there is a decrease in the aggregate supply of goods and services stemming from an increase in the cost of production, we have cost-push inflation. Costpush inflation basically means that prices have been pushed up by increases in costs of any of the four factors of production (labor, capital, land or entrepreneurship) when companies are already running at full production capacity. With higher production costs and productivity maximized, companies cannot maintain profit margins by producing the same amounts of goods and services. As a result, the increased costs are passed on to consumers, causing a rise in the general price level (inflation). Cost-push inflation, also called "supply shock inflation," is caused by a drop in aggregate supply (potential output). This may be due to natural disasters, or increased prices of inputs. For example, a sudden decrease in the supply of oil, leading to increased oil prices, can cause cost-push inflation. Producers for whom oil is a part of their costs could then pass this on to consumers in the form of increased prices. Another example stems from unexpectedly high Insured Losses, either legitimate (catastrophes) or fraudulent (which might be particularly prevalent in times of recession) Demand-Pull Inflation Demand-pull inflation occurs when there is an increase in aggregate demand, categorized by the four sections of the macroeconomy: households, businesses, governments and foreign buyers. When these four sectors concurrently want to purchase more output than the economy can produce, they compete to purchase limited amounts of goods and services. Buyers in essence bid prices up, again, causing inflation. This excessive demand, also referred to as too much money chasing too few goods, usually occurs in an expanding economy.

Demand-pull inflation is caused by increases in aggregate demand due to increased private and government spending, etc. Demand inflation is constructive to a faster rate of economic growth since the excess demand and favourable market conditions will stimulate investment and expansion.

How are inflation and interest rates related? With less money to spend and weaker purchasing power, people can buy fewer products compared to before. As a consequence, demand for products declines. When supply exceeds demand, sellers will opt to lower their prices in order to sell their products. When prices are lowered, inflation rate goes down too. So there, by imposing higher interest rates, the Bangko Sentral can control inflation. We can thus say that theres an inverse relationship between interest rates and inflation.

Measures Inflation is usually estimated by calculating the inflation rate of a price index, usually the Consumer Price Index.[26] The Consumer Price Index measures prices of a selection of goods and services purchased by a "typical consumer".[4] The inflation rate is the percentage rate of change of a price index over time. For instance, in January 2007, the U.S. Consumer Price Index was 202.416, and in January 2008 it was 211.080. The formula for calculating the annual percentage rate inflation in the CPI over the course of 2007 is

The resulting inflation rate for the CPI in this one year period is 4.28%, meaning the general level of prices for typical U.S. consumers rose by approximately four percent in 2007.[27]

What is a CRR rate? Cash reserve Ratio (CRR) is the amount of funds that the banks have to keep with RBI. If RBI decides to increase the percent of this, the available amount with the banks comes

down. RBI is using this method (increase of CRR rate), to drain out the excessive money from the banks. What is a Bank Rate? Bank rate is the rate at which RBI gives to the commercial banks. Whenever RBI increases its rates, the effect will be shown on the commercial banks. In this case, the commercial banks have to increase the interest rates for their profits. What is a Repo Rate? Whenever the banks have any shortage of funds they can borrow it from RBI. Repo rate is the rate at which our banks borrow rupees from RBI. A reduction in the repo rate will help banks to get money at a cheaper rate. When the repo rate increases borrowing from RBI becomes more expensive. What is a Reverse Repo Rate? Reverse Repo rate is the rate at which Reserve Bank of India (RBI) borrows money from banks. Banks are always happy to lend money to RBI since their money are in safe hands with a good interest. An increase in Reverse repo rate can cause the banks to transfer more funds to RBI due to this attractive interest rates. It can cause the money to be drawn out of the banking system. Due to this fine tuning of RBI using its tools of CRR, Bank Rate, Repo Rate and Reverse Repo rate our banks adjust their lending or investment rates for common man.

The only difference between the two are, in REPO RATE, there is sale of security to RBI on an agreement to" repurchase" it at a future date at predetermined price. That is why the term REPO means "REPURCHASE AGREEMENT. Whereas in BANK RATE, there is no such sale or repurchase agreement. It takes place as mere lending of money to commercial banks at fixed rate, i.e. the bank rate.