PremiumRBI Monetary Policy Live: The six-member Monetary Policy Committee headed by Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das started deliberations on the bi-monthly policy review on Tuesday
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday kept key policy rates, including repo and reverse repo rates, unchanged in its monetary policy review announced today.
The six-member Monetary Policy Committee headed by Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das started deliberations on the bi-monthly policy review on Tuesday.
The meeting was originally scheduled to take place 7-9 February 2022. However, it was rescheduled to 8-10 February after Maharashtra Government declared February 7 a public holiday to mourn the death of legendary singer Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar.
MPC keeps the Repo rate unchanged at 4%; Reverse repo rate also unchanged at 3.35%; will also continue with its accommodative stance.
RBI maintains status quo on key policy rates
"The rate-setting panel of the RBI is widely expected to increase the reverse repo rate or the rate at which the central bank borrows short-term deposits from banks by at least 25 basis points. Along with this, the MPC is likely to change the policy stance to neutral from accommodative," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said.
India's retail inflation likely accelerated to 6.0% in January, the upper limit of the Reserve Bank of India's tolerance band, driven by higher consumer goods and telecom prices along with a comparatively low rate a year ago, a Reuters poll found.
The policy statement is crucial, given that the Union Budget had announced a massive government borrowing programme and global central banks have begun withdrawing monetary stimulus. Read more
The industry bodies continue to pitch for a low-interest rate regime citing fragile economic recovery.
The RBI has not changed key policy rates for over one-and-a-half years. The last time the RBI changed policy rate was in May 2020 when it had slashed the key interest rates to a historic low to support the economy ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Analysts and industry leaders feel that the RBI is unlikely to change key policy rates this time and may increase the rates in April.
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