RBI surprise: Repo rate left unchanged; FY20 GDP forecast lowered to 5%

Consequently, the reverse repo rate stands unchanged at 4.90 per cent.

Springing a surprise, the monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained the repo rate at 5.15 per cent points (bps) in its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy meeting of the financial year 2019-20 (FY20) on Thursday. However, GDP growth forecast for FY20 was slashed to 5 per cent from 6.1 per cent. 

The three-day rate-setting meet started on Tuesday (December 3). In its October meet, the RBI had cut interest rate by 25 bps to 5.15 per cent. 

Repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks, in case of