SBI expects another pause in interest rates

New Delhi, August 9

SBI Research expects the Reserve Bank of India to again put a pause on the key policy rates as the central bank’s third monetary policy committee meeting is currently underway. The outcome of the review meeting will be announced tomorrow.

The RBI typically conducts six bi-monthly meetings in a financial year, where it decides interest rates, money supply, inflation outlook, and various macroeconomic indicators. The ongoing three-day meeting started on Tuesday.

In its previous meeting in early June, the central bank’s monetary policy committee unanimously decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%, something most analysts had expected. The RBI in its April meeting too had paused the repo rate. The repo rate is the rate of interest at which RBI lends to other banks.

“We expect the RBI to pause in August policy,” the SBI Research report, authored by SBI’s Group Chief Economic Adviser Soumya Kanti Ghosh, said. — ANI

RBI’s monetary policy today

• In its previous meeting in early June, the RBI’s monetary policy committee unanimously decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%
• The RBI in its April meeting too had paused the repo rate
• Barring the April pause, the RBI raised the repo rate by 250 basis points cumulatively to 6.5% since May 2022 in the fight against inflation