RBI board approves Budget, assess global and domestic landscape

While reviewing the emerging global and domestic economic landscape, the central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday approved the bank's budget for 2025-26.

In a statement, the RBI said the 614th meeting of the central board of directors of RBI held in Thiruvananthapuram under the chairmanship of Governor Sanjay Malhotra assessed the emerging global and domestic economic landscape, including the evolving geopolitical and financial market developments and associated challenges.

“The board discussed the Reserve Bank’s activities during the current 2024-25 and also approved the Bank's budget for 2025-26,” it said, while informing that RBI’s Deputy Governors M Rajeshwar Rao, T Rabi Sankar, Swaminathan J and other directors of the central board -- Satish K Marathe, Revathy Iyer, Sachin Chaturvedi and Ravindra H Dholakia -- attended the meeting.

Pertinently, the RBI in its last bi-monthly policy slashed policy rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 per cent, the first cut in five years. The 25 basis points rate cut to 6.25 per cent comes after the last rate reduction in May 2020.

While the last revision of rates happened in February 2023 when the policy rate was hiked by 25 basis points to 6.5 per cent, the rate increase cycle was paused in April 2023 after six consecutive rate hikes, aggregating to 250 basis points since May 2022. Besides, the last rate hike was done by the RBI in February 2023.

The next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee will be held from April 7 to 9.