Will RBI Maintain Its Interest Rate Pause For The Fourth Time?
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is poised to unveil the outcome of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision on Friday amid widespread market speculation that the central bank is likely to maintain its current interest rates. This announcement marks the fourth bi-monthly monetary policy event for the ongoing fiscal year.
The three-day MPC meeting presided over by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, commenced on October 4 and is set to conclude today. In the most recent Monetary Policy meeting held on August 10, the RBI opted to keep the repo rates steady at 6.5 percent. Notably, this decision marked a continuation of the central bank's trend of maintaining interest rates, as the MPC unanimously voted for a pause in its second bi-monthly monetary policy meeting of the fiscal year 2024. This marked the third consecutive time that the RBI chose to keep interest rates unchanged. In the preceding bi-monthly policy, the RBI had upheld the status quo by maintaining the repo rate at 6.5 percent.
A year is typically divided into six bimonthly reviews of the central bank's monetary policy. However, there are instances when the RBI conducts out-of-cycle reviews, necessitating extra sessions to address urgent situations.
