Unchanged: RBI keeps Repo Rate at 4% for the 8th time in a row

New Delhi/Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept the key lending rate – Repo Rate unchanged at 4 percent for the 8th time in a row.  The Reverse Repo Rate also remains unchanged at 3.35 percent. Announcing the decisions of the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the GDP forecast for FY 2021-22 is 9.5 percent.

Governor further said, "the MPC has also decided to continue with the accommodative stance as long as necessary to revive and sustain growth on a durable basis and to continue to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy while ensuring that inflation remains within the target."

The Governor shared various measures taken by the RBI since the onset of the Pandemic to support the growth and recovery of the economy. He informed that the RBI has injected Rs 2.37 lakh crore liquidity into the financial system through open market operations, in the first six months of FY2021-22. This is against the Rs 3.1 lakh crore injected during the full FY2020-21.

Das announced additional measures to support small businesses and unorganized sectors.  They include:

Increasing IMPS (Immediate Payment Service Transaction) per transaction limit from Rs 2 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs, to enhance customer convenience, enabling instant domestic fund transfer 24×7.

Extension of Rs 10,000 crore On-Tap Special Liquidity Long Term Repo Operations (SLTRO) for small finance banks, till December 31, 2021.

Introduction of a pan-India framework for retail digital payment solutions in offline mode, for areas with little or scarce internet access.

Geo-tagging of all existing and new payment system touchpoints, to expand the reach of payments acceptance infrastructure.

New fraud prevention cohort in RBI's Regulatory sandbox, to provide further impetus to the fintech ecosystem.

Continuation of enhanced ways and means advance limits and liberalized overdraft measures for states, till March 31, 2022

Continuation of classifying bank lending to NBFCs as priority sector lending, till March 31, 2022

Internal Ombudsman Scheme for NBFCs with higher customer interface, to strengthen internal grievance redress mechanism

The Governor assured that the additional measures announced today will support small businesses and unorganized sector entities, will be helpful in remote areas with little or no internet connectivity, will expand the reach of digital payments, will provide further impetus to the fintech ecosystem and ensure continuous innovation in fintech.

As a relief to the states and UTs, RBI has also extended the interim enhancement of ways and means advance (WMA) limits of Rs 51,560 crore up to March 31, 2022. "This is to help states/UTs manage cash flow amidst continued uncertainties on account of the pandemic," he remarked.

"Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation is moderating," said the Governor, noting that the measures taken by the government are helping to contain volatility in vegetable prices.

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