RBI MPC meet: Central bank keeps repo rate unchanged at 5.5%, check what governor Sanjay Malhotra announces

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced its monetary policy decision on repo rate today.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, in its October policy review, decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.5%. The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), led by Governor Sanjay Malhotra, held its fourth bi-monthly meeting for FY26 from September 29 to October 1.

In its previous meeting in August, the MPC left the repo rate unchanged at 5.50% after frontloading monetary easing through a rate cut and a 100-basis-point reduction in the cash reserve ratio (CRR), while maintaining a ‘Neutral’ policy stance.

RBI Guv Sanjay Malhotra On Repo Rate

After a detailed assessment of the evolving macroeconomic outlook, the committee voted unanimously to maintain the repo rate at 5.5 per cent.

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said, “The MPC voted unanimously to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 5.5 per cent.” With this decision, the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate also remains unchanged at 5.25 per cent. The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate continue to stand at 5.75 per cent.

Highlighting the backdrop for the decision, Governor Malhotra said that since the August policy meeting, significant developments on the domestic front, amid a fast-changing global economic environment, have altered the growth and inflation narrative in India.

He stated, “Since the August policy meeting, significant developments on the domestic front amidst a fast-changing global economic landscape have altered the narrative on growth inflation dynamics in India. Buoyed by a good monsoon, the Indian economy continues to exhibit strength by registering a higher growth in Q1”.

RBI MPC Prior MPC Meets

Since February 2025, the RBI has reduced the policy rate by 100 basis points. In its previous policy review in June, it had trimmed the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5 per cent.

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.

Based on the recommendation of the MPC, the RBI reduced the repo rate by 25 bps each in February and April, and 50 basis points in June amidst easing retail inflation.

The retail inflation is trending below 4 per cent since February this year. It eased to a six-year low of 2.07 per cent in August, aided by an easing of food prices and favourable base effect.

(With Input From Agencies)