06.12.201704:33:00UTC+00India Keeps Rates On Hold

India's central bank left its key interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, on Wednesday.

At the fifth bi-monthly monetary policy session, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India decided to maintain the repo rate at 6.00 percent and the reverse repo rate at 5.75 percent.

The bank had lowered the rate by 25 basis points at its meeting in August.

Five members including Governor Urjit Patel voted in favor of the monetary policy decision, while Ravindra Dholakia sought a quarter point reduction.

The projection for real GVA growth for 2017-18 was maintained at 6.7 percent.

The MPC decided to continue with the neutral stance and watch the incoming data carefully. The RBI said the MPC remains committed to keeping headline inflation close to 4 percent on a durable basis.

Inflation is estimated to range between 4.3 percent and 4.7 percent in the third and fourth quarters of this year, RBI said.