RBI maintains status quo; leaves benchmark lending rate unchanged at 4%

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 percent and decided to continue with its accommodative stance despite rising inflation.

This is the 11th time in a row that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has maintained the status quo. RBI had last revised its policy repo rate or the short-term lending rate on May 22, 2020, in an off-policy cycle to perk up demand by cutting the interest rate to a historic low.

MPC has decided to keep the benchmark repurchase (repo) rate at 4 percent, Das said while announcing the bi-monthly monetary policy review.

Consequently, the reverse repo rate will continue to earn 3.35 percent interest for banks for their deposits kept with RBI.

This is the first MPC meeting of the current financial year.