RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das to deliver keynote address at Mumbai event; catch details here

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das is scheduled to attend a high-level conference in Mumbai on Thursday. The central bank chief is set to deliver a keynote address at the High-Level Policy Conference of Central Banks from the Global South at 9.35 am on November 21, the RBI wrote on microblogging site X (formerly Twitter). 

Das's speech will be webcast live through the RBI's verified channel on video-sharing portal YouTube. 

Coming up:
Keynote Address by the Governor @DasShaktikanta at the High-Level Policy Conference of Central Banks from the Global South on November 21, 2024 at 9.35 AM
Watch Live on RBI YouTube Channel at https://t.co/ixeK9r8eUJ#RBI #rbitoday #rbigovernor #shaktikantadas… pic.twitter.com/YHGURt5jrc

— ReserveBankOfIndia (@RBI) November 20, 2024

Last month, the RBI Governor-chaired Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided unanimously to switch to a 'neutral' stance of policy from 'withdrawal of accommodation' while keeping the repo rate—or the benchmark interest rate—unchanged at 6.5 per cent. The RBI's rate-deciding panel voted 5:1 to maintain the repo rate at the existing level.

A neutral stance allows the RBI to move on either side with rates based on domestic macroeconomic conditions.

Meanwhile, domestic retail inflation worsened to 6.21 per cent in October from 5.49 per cent the previous month. The latest monthly reading was beyond the upper tolerance band of the RBI's medium-term target of 4 per cent.

The central bank tracks consumer inflation—or the rate of increase in the prices consumers pay for a basket of goods and services—primarily to formulate its monetary policy.  

ALSO READ: RBI unlikely to go for immediate rate cut, despite inflation likely to cool, says India Ratings

While the decision on key benchmark rates was in line with most economists' expectations, the revision in stance to 'neutral' surprised some. In a Zee Business poll, half the economists expected the RBI to change its stance in the October review while all of them expected no change in the benchmark rates. 

With the October policy, the RBI has continued with a status quo on the policy rates for 10 back-to-back bi-monthly reviews.  

Also, in the October review, the RBI maintained its projection for retail inflation at 4.5 per cent for the year ending March 31, 2025.

However, citing "evenly balanced" risks, the central bank did revise its quarterly projections to 4.1 per cent from 4.4 per cent for Q2, to 4.8 per cent from 4.7 per cent for Q3, and to 4.2 per cent from 4.3 per cent for Q4. The RBI aims to contain inflation at 4 per cent with lower and upper tolerance levels of 2 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.  

The RBI maintained its full-year GDP growth projection unchanged at 7.2 per cent with some tweaks in quarterly estimates.

It projects GDP expansion at 7.0 per cent in Q2 instead of the earlier 7.2 per cent, 7.4 per cent in Q3 instead of 7.3 per cent, and 7.4 per cent in Q4 instead of 7.2 per cent. 

ALSO READ: RBI October MPC Review | No change in repo rate, stance revised to 'neutral', announces Shaktikanta Das