rbi monetary policy repo rate crr sanjay malhotra gdp inflation forecasts liquidity lcr

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy committee- headed by newly appinted Governor Sanjay Malhotra on expected lines announced its first repo rate cut in almost 5 years on Friday to 6.25 per cent from the earlier 6.5 per cent. The repo rate, or repurchase rate, is the interest rate at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lends funds to commercial banks in exchange for securities.

80 per cent of the participants in the Zee Business poll expected the RBI to reduce key policy rate by 25 basis points in its last policy review of the fiscal year 2024-25.

The domestic rate-setting panel has kept the repo rate unchanged for 11 consecutive meetings after raising it by 250 bps between May 2022 and February 2023. The last rate cut was in May 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic.