MPC's decision will be announced on August 10, RBI can maintain status quo on policy rate

Experts believe that India's central bank may leave interest rates unchanged in next week's monetary policy review despite rising inflation. The meeting of the six-member Monetary Policy Committee, headed by Central Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das, will be held on August 8-10. The monetary policy review will be announced on 10 August. 

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 07:00 PM (IST)
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MPC's decision will be announced on August 10, RBI can maintain status quo on policy rate

Experts believe that despite rising inflation, the Reserve Bank of India may keep the policy rate unchanged in the monetary policy review next week.
The six-member Monetary Policy Committee headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will meet from August 8 to 10. The monetary policy review will be announced on 10 August.
Professor NR Bhanumurthy, Vice-Chancellor, Ambedkar School of Economics University, Bengaluru, told news agency PTI that although consumer price index-based inflation is rising, mainly due to food inflation, credit demand remains stable.
I don't think RBI will ignore it. It will probably maintain the status quo on the interest rate. He said retail inflation may be around 5.5 percent due to seasonality and if we remove it, it will be around 4 to 4.5 percent.
It is noteworthy that retail inflation increased to 4.81 percent in June from 4.31 percent in May. Siddharth Sanyal, Chief Economist, Bandhan Bank, said that curiosity about the next MPC meeting has definitely increased. He said the MPC maintained the status quo in the policy rate in the April-June quarter after hiking the interest rate in the previous fiscal.
The move paid off with consumer price index-based inflation falling below five percent in the summer months. The RBI had raised the key policy rate repo by an overall 2.5 percent through May 2022 to control inflation, before leaving the rate unchanged in April.
The US Federal Reserve recently raised the interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 5.25-5.5 percent, taking it to the highest level in several years. The European Central Bank has also increased the interest rate by 0.25 percent. Due to this, its main rate has become 3.75 percent.

Muskan Kumawat Journalist & Writer