New Delhi, October 4 (HS): The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) three-day bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting will begin on Monday. The meeting, chaired by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, will be held in Mumbai from October 5 to 7. Economists expect the central bank to consider a 25-basis-point increase in the policy repo rate amid renewed inflationary pressures.

The six-member MPC will review inflation, economic activity and the prevailing policy interest-rate environment during the three-day meeting. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra is scheduled to announce the monetary policy decision at 10 a.m. on October 7.

Economists and banking officials believe the RBI could raise the repo rate by 25 basis points at its October policy review amid inflationary pressures arising from the renewed escalation of the West Asia crisis. Japanese brokerage firm Nomura has also forecast two successive 25-basis-point rate hikes, one each in the October and December policy reviews, which would take the repo rate to 5.75 per cent by the end of 2026.

The RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent at its previous MPC meeting in August. A 25-basis-point increase in October would mark the central bank’s first repo rate hike since February 2023. The RBI has kept the policy rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent over its last four policy reviews, following a cumulative 125-basis-point reduction during 2025.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar