Monetary Policy review: Familiar script with a surprise

The rate cut cycle may not begin before the second half of FY25

It’s a familiar script. There is no change in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) policy rate. The repo remains at 6.5 per cent — for eight months in a row. The policy stance is also unchanged — withdrawal of accommodation as the transmission of the 250 basis points (bps) rate hike, between May 2022 and February 2023,  to bank lending and deposit rates is still incomplete. One bp is a hundredth of a percentage point.
 

The first decision is unanimous among the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Indian central bank; five MPC members are in favour of