India central bank raises policy rate, maintains ‘neutral’ stance

Punit Paranjpe | AFP | Getty Images

An Indian policeman stands guard at the entrance of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) head office in Mumbai on October 4, 2017.

India’s central bank on Wednesday raised its policy rate for the first time in more than four years, due to inflation concerns, but kept its policy stance as “neutral”.

The monetary policy committee lifted the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent, the first increase since January 2014, as predicted by 46 percent of respondents in a Reuters poll this week.

All six members on the rate panel voted for an increase.

The reverse repo rate was also raised by 25 basis points, to 6.00 percent.

Before Wednesday, the last policy rate change was a 25 bps cut in August 2017.