CA Online

  India’s central bank today left its inflation forecast for this fiscal year unchanged at 4.5% assuming normal monsoon, even as the country braces for a scorching summer amid a spike in crude oil prices and persisting worries about supply chain due to the Red Sea crisis. However, RBI Governor and MPC Chair Shaktikanta Das two years ago elephant in the room was inflation, which has now has gone out for a walk to the forest. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee with a five-to-one majority decided to keep the repo rate- key lending rate- unchanged at 6.5% for the seventh time in a row. The rate-setting panel also left the policy stance unchanged with focus on withdrawal of accommodation. "Inflation (for global economies) is moving closer to targets but the last mile is turning out to be challenging," said while announcing the policy decisions. Robust growth prospects provide policy space to remain focused on bringing inflation to 4% target, he said. T

  Indian government bond yields are expected to open flattish on Friday as market participants await the Reserve Bank of India's first monetary policy decision of this financial year for guidance on the trajectory of interest rates. The yield on the benchmark 10-year is likely to trade in a 7.08 per cent-7.11 per cent range till the policy decision at 10:00 a.m. IST, a trader with a private bank said. The yield closed at 7.0934 per cent on Thursday. "For now, the market will ignore all other factors and will solely focus on the tone that the Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das adopts at the monetary policy and in the first hour, we should see sideway moves," the trader said. The market is not expecting any change in rates for now as strong economic growth and moderating inflation means the central bank will have room to keep rates on hold likely until July, economists have said. At the previous meeting, Das had stressed that they may consider rate cuts only onc