Ahead of the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee meeting in August, Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra sat down with businessline on Sunday for a comprehensive interview at the central bank’s headquarters in Mumbai. Malhotra underlined that price stability remains the central bank’s foremost priority even as it seeks to support growth as inflation risks re-emerge and global uncertainties cloud the economic outlook. He stressed that monetary policy decisions will remain data-dependent, highlighted the $32 billion mobilised through recent foreign capital measures, expressed confidence that the rupee is not overvalued, and outlined the RBI’s roadmap on liquidity, CBDC adoption, banking reforms and financial stability.
Does the current repo rate meet your objective of keeping inflation under check while supporting growth?
The present rate is the appropriate rate as assessed by the MPC in view of the prevailing growth-inflation dynamics and outlook in June 2026 amid heightened global uncertainties. Our primary mandate is price stability. Although generalised inflation pressures continue to remain modest so far, the risk of higher food, fuel and other input prices translating to a broad-based inflation environment is real. But our team is assessing the growth-inflation dynamics. We are heading into our next Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting shortly. We will take an appropriate decision based on the data available and the outlook.
