By Swati Bhat
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Strong economic growth and moderating inflation means India’s central bank will have room to keep interest rates on hold at its review this week and likely until July, economists say.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is widely expected to keep rates unchanged on Friday, for the seventh consecutive meeting.
All 56 economists in the March 15-22 Reuters poll expected the RBI to hold the repo rate at 6.50% while most expect no change at least until July.
The RBI has ample room to remain on hold in the near term, Barclays said in a note.
The central bank last changed rates in February 2023, when the policy rate was hiked to 6.5%.
“We think the RBI will have to consider the balance of risks between over tightening (given the ‘not-too-hot-nor-too-cold’ state of the economy) and maintaining monetary policy conditions for achieving reasonably good real GDP growth of…