Perspective: RBI’S Monetary Policy |

The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday announced its bimonthly monetary policy and kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent. The rate hike has been paused after six consecutive rate increases aggregating to 250 basis points in 11 months since May 2022. Announcing the decision, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das also said that the Monetary Policy Committee will not hesitate to take action in the future. Retail inflation numbers that are taken into account for setting the interest rates stood at 6.44 per cent in February compared to 6.52 per cent in the previous month. RBI projected 5.2 % inflation for FY 24. The Central Bank also marginally raised GDP growth projection for FY24 to 6.5 % from the earlier estimate of 6.4 %. The RBI Governor also said that the global economy is facing financial challenges in the wake of recent bank failures and RBI is keeping close watch on the turmoil in the banking sector in developed countries. He also pointed out that RBI will maintain an agile approach for liquidity management and manage govt borrowing programmes in a non-disruptive manner.