RBI panel starts deliberations amid expectation of status quo

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das-headed Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) started its three-day meeting on Wednesday amid expectations of a status quo on the rate front in its bi-monthly monetary policy review.

The policy review will be announced on Friday morning. In case of a status quo, interest rates for retail, aswell as corporate borrowers, would remain stable. Experts believe that the Reserve Bank will retain the benchmark rate at 6.5 per cent in view of the elevated inflation and global factors.

The Reserve Bank started increasing the policy rate in May 2022 in tranches, inthe wake of the Russia-Ukraine war and took it to 6.5 per cent in February this

year. Since then, it has kept the rate unchanged in the last three successive bi-monthly monetary policy review