REUTERS - Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan surprised markets in his maiden policy review on Friday by raising interest rates to ward off rising inflation, while scaling back some emergency measures recently taken to support the ailing rupee.
Rajan, who took office early this month amid India's worst economic crisis since 1991, increased the RBI's policy repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 7.50 percent, defying most forecasts that he would leave it on hold to bolster a sluggish economy.
The RBI reduced the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate to 9.50 percent, which makes it cheaper for banks to borrow. Since mid-July, the MSF has been widely been viewed as India's effective policy rate.
Here is a timeline of changes to the CRR since 1992.
RATE (percent) EFFECTIVE DATE (day-month-year)
4.00 09-02-2013
4.25 03-11-2012
4.50 22-09-2012
4.75 10-03-2012
5.50 28-01-2012
6.00 24-04-2010
5.75 27-02-2010
5.50 13-02-2010
5.00 17-01-2009
5.50 08-11-2008
6.00 01-11-2008
6.50 15-10-2008
7.50 11-10-2008
9.00 30-08-2008
8.75 19-07-2008
8.50 05-07-2008
8.25 24-05-2008
8.00 10-05-2008
7.75 26-04-2008
7.50 10-11-2007
7.00 04-08-2007
6.50 28-04-2007
6.25 14-04-2007
6.00 03-03-2007
5.75 17-02-2007
5.50 08-12-2006
5.00 02-10-2004
4.75 18-09-2004
4.50 14-06-2003
4.75 16-11-2002
5.00 01-06-2002
5.50 29-12-2001
5.75 03-11-2001
7.50 19-05-2001
8.00 10-03-2001
8.25 24-02-2001
8.50 12-08-2000
8.25 29-07-2000
8.00 22-04-2000
8.50 08-04-2000
9.00 20-11-1999
9.50 06-11-1999
10.00 08-05-1999
10.50 13-03-1999
11.00 29-08-1998
10.00 11-04-1998
10.25 28-03-1998
10.50 17-01-1998
10.00 06-12-1997
9.50 22-11-1997
9.75 25-10-1997
10.00 18-01-1997
10.50 04-01-1997
11.00 09-11-1996
11.50 26-10-1996
12.00 06-07-1996
13.00 11-05-1996
13.50 27-04-1996
14.00 09-12-1995
14.50 11-11-1995
15.00 06-08-1994
14.75 09-07-1994
14.50 11-06-1994
14.00 15-05-1993
14.50 17-04-1993
15.00 08-10-1992
(Compiled by Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
