RBI MPC meet: Central Bank may hike rates by 25 bps next week

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may hike interest rates by 25 basis points in the bi-monthly monetary policy meeting, according to the reports. 

During the three days meeting starting from April 3, 2023, the rate hike is estimated by analysts mainly due to retail inflation has been above the comfort level of 6 per cent and most global peers including the US Fed continuing their hawkish stance. 

The RBI meeting will consider various domestic and global factors before coming out with the first bi-monthly monetary policy for fiscal 2023-24. The central bank will review rates on April 6 next week.

The two key factors which the committee will focus are rising retail inflation and the recent action taken by central banks including US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been raising benchmark rates since May 2022 to balance inflation which has been largely driven by global factors, especially the disruption of the global supply chain following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war last year.

Notably, in its last policy meeting held in February, RBI raised the policy rate or repo by 25 basis points to 6.50 per cent.