New Delhi, 06 October (H.S.):

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra will announce the decisions of the three-day bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting at 10 a.m. on October 7. A press conference will follow at 12 p.m. Economic experts expect the RBI to raise its policy repo rate by up to 0.25 percentage point.

The MPC, headed by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, began its three-day review meeting in Mumbai on Monday to assess economic conditions and decide on key policy rates. The Reserve Bank has announced that the Monetary Policy Statement and the post-policy press conference on October 7 will be livestreamed.

The Monetary Policy Statement will be broadcast at 10 a.m., followed by the post-policy press conference at 12 p.m.

Economists and banking officials believe the RBI could raise the repo rate by 0.25 percentage point in its October monetary policy review amid inflationary pressures arising from a renewed escalation in the ongoing crisis in West Asia.

Earlier, brokerage firm Nomura had projected two successive 0.25-percentage-point hikes in the policy repo rate during the October-December monetary policy review meetings.

At its previous MPC meeting in August, the RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent. After cutting the repo rate by a cumulative 1.25 percentage points in 2025, the central bank has maintained the rate at 5.25 per cent for four consecutive policy meetings.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar