Indo-Pak Conflict's Negligible Economic Impact: RBI

Mumbai, Jun 6 (PTI) Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Friday said the India-Pakistan conflict, following the Pahalgam attack in which 26 civilians were killed, had negligible impact on economic activity.

After the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, in which 26 people were killed, Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor and hit terror infrastructure in Pakistan.

Indian armed forces on May 7 carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base in Muridke.

In retaliation, Pakistan, too, launched its offensive and bordering districts were affected.

"The conflict... had a very, very limited, negligible impact on economic activity. It did have some impact for those days, especially in northern India, airports being closed, air passenger traffic did certainly decrease, but there was no major supply chain disruption, etc," he said.

So, he said, it does not have any impact on economic activity, growth, inflation.

For few days, he said, "Prices in those regions, those sectors, had gone up, but it has all normalised. It does not have any major impact on the economy."

On the recent rise in Covid-19 cases, he said it is not a matter of concern as of now.

"I think it has become one of the viruses, and hopefully it should stay like that," he added.