RBI may keep rates unchanged: SBI chairman

New Delhi: State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Dinesh Khara on Wednesday said he expects the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to maintain status quo in the monetary policy review meeting next month. “When it comes to MPC, there are multiple data points to look into. The broad data of course is inflation. What we have seen in last few months, it could be perceived that it is trending down. As a bank, we don’t expect any cut. May be a status quo is something, which we expect,” he said at an event organised by industry body CII here.

The next meeting of the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is scheduled to be from August 8-10. In its policy review meeting last month, the RBI left the key interest rate unchanged for a second straight time, but signalled that it wants to see inflation moderate more. Currently, the repo rate is 6.5 per cent. Asked about private capital expenditure (capex), Khara said robust retail demand drives the need for investment in capacity expansion by the corporate sector. Consumption is picking up and corporate sector has started talking about capex, he said. “We are seeing right traction and in the right direction as far as private capex is concerned,” he said.