RBI MPC Oct Meet: Panel Maintains Status Quo On Key Rates, Repo Rate At 6.5 Per Cent

RBI MPC: Shaktikanta Das said the committee maintained the MSF and SDF rates will remain unchanged at 6.75 per cent and 6.25 per cent, respectively

RBI MPC Meeting: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday maintained the status quo on benchmark interest rates. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank decided to keep the key rates unchanged at 6.5 per cent. The committee undertook this decision by 5:1 majority, marking this the tenth consecutive time that the RBI has opted to maintain the key rates since last changing it in February 2023.

MSF And SDF Rates

Sharing details of the meeting, Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the RBI has changed the stance of monetary policy to ‘neutral’ from withdrawal of accomodation. Explaining the change, he stated, "Prevailing and expected inflation, growth balance have created congenial condition for change in monetary policy stance to 'neutral'."

The committee also kept the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) and the Standard Deposit Facility (SDF) unchanged at 6.75 per cent and 6.25 per cent respectively.

Das, who chaired the MPC meeting, stated that the committee remains focused on ‘a durable alignment of inflation with the target while supporting growth’. “Currently macroeconomic parameters of inflation and growth are well balanced. Headline inflation is on a downward trajectory, though its pace has been slow and uneven,” the Governor noted. 

GDP Forecast

Sharing the growth predictions for the Indian economy, the Governor said that the real GDP growth for the first quarter of the upcoming  2025-26 fiscal year (FY26) is projected at 7.3 per cent. Meanwhile, the growth estimates for the current fiscal year (2024-25) stand at 7.2 per cent for the second quarter, 7.4 per cent for the third quarter, and 7.4 per cent for the final quarter. The growth projections for 2024-25 fiscal year (FY25) as a whole stands at 7.2 per cent, the governor revealed.

However, Das said that real GDP growth for the first quarter of FY25 stood at 6.7 per cent. The GDP data from the April-June quarter in 2024-25 missed the earlier growth estimates of 7.1 per cent given by the central bank's committee.