RBI Monetary Policy LIVE Updates:
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das-led Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Friday raised the repo rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.40 percent in a bid to tame persisting high inflation. Higher interest rates are deemed to suppress demand in the economy, thereby helping to tackle inflation. After RBI’s August policy meet decision today, the repo rate is above pre-pandemic levels of 5.15 percent. With this, the overall rate hike in three successive policy meets has now gone to 140 basis points, in line with the global trend of monetary policy tightening to cool off inflation. For India, another bigger worry is the widening trade deficit, owing to higher Brent crude oil prices and a depreciating rupee against the US dollar. A CNBC-TV18 poll of economists and market experts had indicated the RBI to raise the repo rate between 35 basis points (bps) to 50 bps.
First Published: IST
