Central Banks
India Central Bank Signals No Rush to Cut Interest Rates
- RBI keeps benchmark rate at 6.5%, maintains policy stance
- Inflation likely to average 4.5%, GDP growth seen at 7%
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) head office in Mumbai.
Photographer: Indranil Aditya/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
India’s central bank stuck to its hawkish policy stance on Thursday as inflation remains well above its target, suggesting it’s in no hurry to cut interest rates until later in the year.
The Monetary Policy Committee voted five-to-one to keep the benchmark repurchase rate at 6.5%, a move predicted by all of the 42 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The panel also decided to retain its policy stance at “withdrawal of accommodation,” disappointing some analysts who had predicted a shift to neutral.