Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra announced that the central bank’s policy rate will remain unchanged at 5.25%. The decision was announced on Friday (February 6, 2026), following the RBI monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting, where the unchanged rate was decided unanimously.
Mr. Malhotra said that the MPC maintained a neutral stance, arriving at the decision after a detailed assessment of evolving macroeconomic conditions and the overall economic outlook.
This is the first monetary policy review after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Budget for financial year 2026-27.
The RBI Governor said that external headwinds have intensified since the last policy meeting. At the same time, he noted that the successful completion of recent trade deals augurs well for the economic outlook.
Mr. Malhotra said that “domestic inflation and growth outlook remain positive” and added that the “Indian economy remains resilient.”
“Real GDP growth for the next two quarters have been revised upwards,” he said.
He also added that CPI inflation for 2025-26 is projected at 2.1%
In its last meeting on December 5, 2025, the MPC had voted unanimously to reduce the policy repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 5.25%
Among the proposals put forth by the Governor in his announcement were the setting up a unified portal for better management of Lead Bank data, easing of branch opening norms for NBFCs.
The Governor said that the RBI will allow banks to lend to REITs with certain safeguards. The central bank will remain pro activity in liquidity management to meet productive requirements of economy, said Mr. Malhotra.
“System liquidity remained at ₹75,000 crore on daily average basis. The RBI took several steps to boost liquidity in December-January,” he said.
He added that forex reserves were very healthy at $723.8 billion by the end of January.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)
Published – February 06, 2026 10:20 am IST
