RBI's MPC begins deliberations amid expectations of status quo in key rate

The Reserve Bank's rate-setting panel, Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), began its three-day deliberations on Wednesday amid expectations of a status quo on benchmark rate mainly on account of uncertainty over the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
 

Moreover, the fears of firming inflation may also refrain the MPC from tinkering with the interest rate in its bi-monthly monetary policy outcome to be announced on Friday.
 

The RBI had kept key interest rates unchanged at the last MPC meeting held in April. The key lending rate, the repo rate, was kept at 4 per cent and the reverse repo