Inflationary woes: RBI retains rates, maintains accommodative stance (Roundup)

Mumbai, Dec 4 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday retained its key short-term lending rates to subdue the persistently high inflation rate.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank, however, maintained the growth-oriented accommodative stance, thus opening up possibilities for more future rate cuts.
The MPC voted to maintain the repo rate — or short-term lending rate for commercial banks, at 4 per cent.
Likewise, the reverse repo rate was kept unchanged at 3.35 per cent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 4.25 per cent.
It was widely expected that the Reserve Bank’s MPC will hold rates as recent data showed that retail inflation has been at an elevated level during June.
As per recent data, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which gauges the retail price inflation, spiked in October to 7.61 per cent from 7.27 per cent in September.