RBI Repo Rate News: The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy committee (MPC) has decided unanimously to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.25% in its February 2026 bi-monthly monetary policy, Governor Sanjay Malhotra announced on Friday. This is in line with market expectations. The decision has been taken unanimously, and the RBI MPC’s policy stance remains ‘neutral’.
This is the first monetary policy review after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Budget for the financial year 2026-27.
The RBI also maintained a status quo on the standing deposit facility (SDF) at 5 per cent, as well as kept marginal standing facility (MSF) and bank rates at 5.50 per cent. The SDF is the lower band of the interest rate corridor, while the MSF is the upper band.
Announcing the sixth and final bi-monthly policy review of FY26 on February 6, 2026, Malhotra said, “Since the last MPC meeting (December 2025), external headwinds have intensified. However, the successful completion of trade deals augurs well for the economic outlook. Overall, the near-term domestic inflation and growth outlooks remain positive."
The RBI MPC had cut the key policy rate by 25 basis point rate cut in the previous monetary policy in December 2025. Since February 2025, the RBI has reduced the policy rate by 125 basis points. In its previous policy review in December, it had trimmed the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.25 per cent.
Growth Outlook
Malhotra also said the Indian economy continues to register growth despite challenging external environment.
The RBI governor said the Indian economy continues on a steady improving trajectory, with the real GDP poised to register a significantly higher growth of 7.4 per cent YoY this fiscal. “Going forward, the country’s economic activity is expected to hold up well in the next year," he added.
The RBI on Friday revised upwards real GDP growth projections for Q1 and Q2 for FY27 to 6.9% and 7%, respectively.
The RBI governor said the GDP projection for the full FY27 will be announced in the next monetary policy in April 2026, as the new GDP series will be released.
Inflation Outlook
The RBI projected inflation for the current fiscal year at 2.1 per cent. The RBI eyed 4 per cent for Q1 in FY27 and 4.2 per cent in Q2.
He added that G-sec yields continued to harden over last eight months mirroring global trends.
The RBI on Friday proposed to ease branch opening norms for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). It also proposed to set up unified portal for better management of Lead Bank data.
The RBI governor also said the central bank will allow banks to lend to real estate investment trusts (REITs) with certain safeguards.
