#benchmarkinterestrate

Follow Us on Google NewsThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is currently holding a three-day meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee to decide whether to increase the benchmark interest rate, known as the repo rate. The RBI has raised the repo rate by a total of 250 basis points since May 2022, with the latest increase of 25 basis points in February 2023, in an effort to control inflation. The central bank holds six bi-monthly reviews of its monetary policy each year, and there may be additional meetings in times of emergency.Governor Shaktikanta Das will make an announcement on Thursday regarding the outcome of the meetings, followed by a press conference. Many stakeholders are closely watching these meetings, as central banks around the world are trying to manage rising inflation while avoiding a potential mild recession.According to a report by SBI Research, the RBI may decide to pause its interest rate hike, keeping the current repo rate of 6.5% as the terminal rate for now. The report suggests that the RBI has enough reasons to pause the repo rate hike in the April meeting, and a neutral stance would give the Monetary Policy Committee flexibility to be non-committal on forward guidance while subtly indicating a "pause".