
RBI’s wait-and-watch policy: Its rate status quo, neutral stance retention and forecast restraint all make sense
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) did what everyone expected it to do. It kept both the repo rate and stance unchanged.
Unless things change dramatically, and we really can’t rule that out in today’s post-Trumpian world, the repo rate—at which India’s central bank infuses liquidity— will remain at 5.25%, at least till the next MPC meet in April. The stance will also remain neutral. The improvement in the Indian economy’s growth impulses—growth estimates for the first and second quarters of the next fiscal year have been revised upwards marginally—is expected to continue.
Inflation is also expected to remain well within the target range specified under the Flexible Inflation Targeting Regime. And though there is a slight uptick in inflation estimates for both the first and second quarters of 2026-27, which have been revised upwards to 4% and 4.2% from the earlier estimates of 3.9% and 4% respectively, the MPC is clearly not losing any sleep over it as yet. Part of the reason why the MPC held its horses for now is presumably uncertainty related to the new GDP series, whose base is slated to shift to 2022-23, as against the present 2011-12, as well as the new Consumer Price Inflation numbers, whose base is slated to move to 2024 from 2011-12.
This is also why the governor held back GDP and inflation estimates for the next fiscal year. The revisions are clearly playing on the MPC’s and Governor Sanjay Malhotra’s mind, going by the fact that he referred to them thrice in the course of the first 10 minutes of his speech. Apart from saying, “economic activity is expected to hold up well in 2026-27, and that “on the demand side, the
. Read on livemint.com