RBI MPC Meeting Key Takeaways: Repo rate, inflation, UPI, record forex reserves and other important aspects

RBI MPC Meeting Highlights:The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on the conclusion of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Friday (April 5, 2024) has kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent. This was the seventh time when the repo rate remained at the same level. The MPC voted 5:1 in favour of keeping the rate unchanged in the meeting that began on April 2 and ended today.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das also announced in the meeting that the MPC has retain the "withdrawal of accommodation" monetary stance.
 
This was the last MPC meeting before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The RBI Governor also said that taking economic conditions into account, he predicts a GDP growth rate of 7 per cent in FY25. Q1 7.1 Q2 Q3 and Q3 7.0 each

 
ZeeBiz.com takes you through some of the key takeaways of the MPC meeting.

Repo rate

The Reserve Bank of India decided not to change the repo rate and kept it at 6.50 per cent. It has been more than a year when the repo rate was changed.

The RBI last changed the repo rate in February 2023, when it raised it from 6.25 per cent to 6.50 per cent, an increase of 25 basis points (bps).

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GDP forecast

The RBI Governor says that real GDP growth for FY25 is expected to be at 7 per cent. The GDP growth is expected to be 7.1 per cent in Q1, 6.9 per cent in Q2, and 7.0 per cent in Q3 and Q4 each, said Das after the MPC meeting.   

Inflation forecast

Das said that CPI inflation in FY25 is expected to stay at 4.5 per cent. CPI inflation in April–June 2024 (FY25 Q1) is expected to fall to 4.9 per cent from the earlier estimate of 5.0 per cent.

The July–September 2024 (FY25 Q2) inflation is also expected to fall to 3.8 per cent from 4.0 per cent.

CPI inflation for the October-December 2024 is expected to remain the same at 4.6 per cent, while its projection for January–March 2025 is 4.5 per cent against the previous projection of 4.7 per cent.

"The MPC has decided to be resolute in its commitment to align CPI to its target," said  Das. "Inflation has reached near the target but there is a challenge of food inflation," he said further.

Accommodative Stance

The RBI has also maintained its stance on the the withdrawal of an accommodative stance. While five out of six members voted in favour of the rate decision, the MPC stance of 'withdrawal of accommodation' was retained with a majority of five votes.

UPI facility

In one of the important announcements, Das said that people can now deposits at cash deposit machines by using UPI.

"Our next announcement is related to enabling UPI for cash deposit facility. Deposit of cash through cash deposit machines is primarily being done through debit cards. Given the experience gained from card-less cash withdrawal using UPI at the ATMs, it is now supposed to also facilitate deposit of cash in CDMs using UPI," said Das.

ALSO READ | Cash deposits via UPI? Here is what RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced today

Foreign exchange reserves

Das said that India's foreign exchange reserve reached at a record level of USD645.6 billion as of March 29, 2024. He said that in 2021, the country had USD600+ billion forex reserves.

FPI outflows saw turnaround

Das said that the country saw a USD 46.6 billion FPI outflows in the financial year ending March 2024. He said that it is much higher than the previous two years, when it was USD 14.1 billion and USD 4.8 billion, respectively.

G-Sec app

To felicitate retail investors in the RBI retail direct scheme, the central has bank has launched a G-Sec app.

"The scheme was launched in November 2021 for enabling the retail investors to participate in the G-Sec market, both primary and secondary market auctions and operations. It has now launched the mobile app to help retail investors access the retail direct portal. This will be a great convenience to retail invertors and deepen the G-Sec market further," said Das.