RBI monetary policy October 2021: Will RBI offer respite on key interest rates? Here is what is expected

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is widely expected to keep key interest steady on in its bi-monthly monetary policy on Friday.

Reserve Bank's rate-setting panel started its three-day deliberations on the monetary policy on Wednesday. The decision of the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) would be announced at 10 am by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.

Experts are of the view that the central bank will maintain the status quo on policy rates for the eighth time in a row amid rising global commodity prices and the need to contain inflation at home. The central bank had last revised the policy rate on May 22, 2020, in an off-policy cycle to perk up demand by cutting interest rate to a historic low.

The policy repo rate or the short-term lending rate is currently at 4 per cent, and the reverse repo rate is 3.35 per cent.

The RBI has projected the CPI inflation at 5.7 per cent during 2021-22 -- 5.9 per cent in the second quarter, 5.3 per cent in third, and 5.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of the fiscal, with risks broadly balanced. CPI inflation for the first quarter of 2022-23 is projected at 5.1 per cent.

The CPI inflation was at 5.3 per cent in August. The inflation data for September is scheduled to be released on October 12.

With PTI Inputs