RBI Monetary Policy August 2023: Reserve Bank Yet Again Keeps Repo Rates Unchanged At 6.5%

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday kept the repo rates unchanged at 6.5 percent. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank unanimously decided to take a consecutive pause in its second bi-monthly monetary policy meeting of FY24 after a rate hike seen in previous six consecutive policies.

The Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the RBI took place on June 8-10. This is for the third consecutive time that the RBI has paused the interest rates. In its last bi-monthly policy, RBI had maintained a status quo in its repo rate at 6.5 percent.

A year is divided into six bimonthly reviews of the central bank's monetary policy. Additionally, there are out-of-cycle reviews, where the central bank holds extra sessions in urgent situations.

He said the MPC will remain watchful of the inflation and remains resolute to its commitment to align inflation to the targeted level.
While keeping the interest rate intact, Das said headline inflation still remains above RBI's target of 4 per cent.

The MPC meeting took place against the backdrop of consumer price-based (CPI) inflation on some food items like tomato, wheat and rice that have witnessed surge in price in the last few weeks. The government has mandated RBI to ensure CPI inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.