The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is likely to keep interest rates unchanged this week while signalling tight liquidity conditions and vigilance on inflation, as rising food prices are seen exerting upward pressure on upcoming consumer price readings.
The MPC, which will detail its next policy statement at the end of its three-day meeting on December 8, is seen keeping the repo rate unchanged at 6.50% while retaining its stance of withdrawal of accommodation, an ET poll of 10 economists showed. After raising the repo rate by 250 basis points (2.5 percentage points) from May 2022 to February 2023, the committee has maintained a pause on the benchmark rate, which is the rate at which the RBI lends to banks.