MNI BRIEF: Reserve Bank Of India Keeps Policy Rate Steady

The Reserve Bank of India held policy steady on Wednesday underlining that inflation remains manageable on seasonal factors and that recovery from the pandemic remains a priority.

The policy repo rate is stable at 4% and the marginal standing facility rate and the bank rate were also held at 4.25%, the central bank said in its latest Monetary Policy Statement in a 5 to 1 vote by the Monetary Policy Committee. The reverse repo rate was unchanged at 3.35%.

"The Indian economy has literally hauled itself out of one of the deepest contractions in the first quarter of 2020-21 to a position in which the GDP has expanded by 13.7% in the first half of 2021-2," Governor Shaktikanta Das said in a statement.

Das added that headline consumer prices up 4.5% in October were within expectations on higher vegetable prices due to unseasonal rains in some parts of the country and higher international energy prices. But he said in both cases, the government's response to supply food stocks and cut excise duty and VAT on petrol and diesel will bring about "a durable reduction in inflation."