India's central bank keeps key rate unchanged at 6 pct

NEW DELHI, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- India's central banking institution Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept its key lending rate unchanged after its monetary policy review Wednesday, officials said.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Urjit Patel kept the repo rate, the rate at which the RBI lends, short-term, to banks, unchanged at 6 percent.

The reverse repo rate was kept steady at 5.75 percent.

"On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation at its meeting today, the MPC decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.0 percent," RBI said.

"Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains at 5.75 percent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.25 percent."

RBI said the decision of the MPC was consistent with the neutral stance of monetary policy in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 percent within a band of plus/minus 2 percent, while supporting growth.

The MPC is a committee of RBI that is responsible for fixing the benchmark interest rate in India. The meetings of the MPC are held at least four times a year and after every such meeting, it publishes its decisions. Enditem