RBI pauses rate cuts, retains interest rate at 5.25%

After a 25 basis point rate cut in December, the RBI on Friday decided to pause on the policy rate front amid geopolitical uncertainties. This is the first monetary policy review after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Budget for financial year 2026-27.

Announcing the sixth and final bi-monthly monetary policy for the current fiscal, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to retain short-term lending rate or repo rate at 5.25 per cent with a neutral stance. The rate cut pause comes on the back of the CPI-based headline retail inflation ruling below the 2 per cent lower band mandated by the government for the last four months. The central bank has been tasked by the government to ensure that consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side. Since February 2025, the RBI has reduced the policy rate by 125 basis points. In its previous policy review in December, it had trimmed the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.25 per cent. Based on the recommendation of the MPC, the RBI reduced the repo rate by 25 bps each in February, 2025 and April, and 50 basis points in June amidst easing retail inflation. However, the central bank halted its rate cut in August.

In the last MPC meeting, the RBI again went for reduction in repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.25 per cent. India's retail inflation dropped to a historic low of 0.25 per cent in October 2025, marking the lowest level since the CPI series was introduced. Besides, the Indian economy has clocked better-than-expected GDP growth of 8.2 per cent in the second quarter. As per the government estimate, India's economy is estimated to grow at 7.4 per cent during the ongoing financial year. However, the rupee declined to historic low and crossed 92 against a dollar last week making imports costlier, raising fears of rise in inflation. Rupee has depreciated by about 6 per cent in calendar year 2025.