The 3-day meeting to be held every 2 months for the monetary policy review of the Reserve Bank of India concluded today. In this meeting chaired by Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, it was decided to keep the policy rates constant because of the in-depth deliberations and the explosion of the Omicron Variant, i.e. there has been no change in the rates. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das told after the meeting that the MPC voted collectively to keep the policy repo rate at 4% and the stance remained sympathetic. The MSF rate and the Bank rate remain consistent at 4.25%. Along with this, the reverse repo rate has also been kept fixed at 3.35%.
While announcing the monetary policy on Wednesday, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that this time too there has been no change in the policy rates. Repo rate remains constant at 4%. It is worth noting that the RBI has not made any change in interest rates for the 9th consecutive time. Earlier, the central bank last changed the interest rates on 22 May 2020.
The repo rate, at which the RBI lends short-term money to banks, has been kept consistent at 4%. Further, the reverse repo rate, at which the Reserve Bank of India borrows from banks, was kept fixed at 3.35%. Marginal Standing Facility & Bank rates have also been kept fixed at 4.25%. In May 2020, the central bank degraded key policy rates to a historic low to boost the economy affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then the Reserve Bank of India has maintained the status quo.
Talking about the Indian economy during this period, during the April-June 2020 quarter, when the Reserve Bank of India last modified policy rates, India's GDP declined by 24.4%. The economy listed a growth of 20.1% during the April-June 2021 quarter. If we look at the recent numerals, the GDP recorded a growth of 8.4% in the July-September 2021 quarter, as compared to 7.4% in the year-ago period.