The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today started its 3-day bi-monthly monetary policy review meeting to decide the key benchmark interest rates or repo rates. The decision of the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by Governor Sanjay Malhotra, will be announced on Wednesday. This meeting marks the first MPC session of the new fiscal year and comes shortly after the Union Budget 2025, which emphasised boosting consumption through income tax slab changes.

In February, the MPC slashed the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 per cent. It was the first reduction since May 2020 and the first revision after two and a half years.

Experts are of the opinion that RBI’s rate-setting panel will announce another rate cut of 25 bps this week amid growing concerns over global economic headwinds, particularly following the US’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs.