Lending to the priority sectors was increased to the mandated target of 40 per cent. Specialised Regional Rural Banks were set up in 1975, especially in backward and tribal districts to cater to the needs of the weaker sections amongst farmers and non-farm small businesses entrepreneurs.
The discount rate for profits--the sum of the risk-free interest rate and the equity premium--depends on other features of the economy. Hence, if the discount rate has changed, some other aspect of the economy must have changed as well--and that change may have effects on consumption separate from the effect of the change in stock prices.