Repo rate unchanged at 5.5%: RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra

RBI MPC Meeting: The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee has announced its decisions after a three-day long meeting that concluded today. RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.5 per cent, while the monetary policy remains “neutral.” The reason for this decision is said to be concerns over tariff uncertainties. Earlier, also the repo rate was kept unchanged. 

In today's meeting, six-member panel voted unanimously in support of the repo rate to be 5.50% and announced to to continue with a "neutral" policy stance.

What RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said?

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, while announcing the monetary policy of the current fiscal, said, “The Monetary Police Committee (MPC) considered it prudent to wait for the impact of policy actions to play out and for greater clarity to emerge before starting the next course of action. Accordingly, the MPC unanimously voted to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 5.5 per cent and also decided to retain the stance as neutral.”

According to the Governor Malhotra, ''Growth-inflation dynamics have shifted since the August monetary policy. The rationalisation of GST is expected to have a dampening effect on inflation.''

Internationalisation of the Indian rupee

The governor also announced internationalisation of Indian rupee. As per today's announcement, banks in Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka will be allowed to lend in Indian rupees to non-resident Indians (NRIs).