A jumbo cut and all accoutrements to meet growth aspirations

An all-out dovish tone was marred by a quick reversal of monetary policy stance back to neutral, indicating limited policy space ahead to cut interest rates further.

By Rajni Thakur 

We started this morning with a discussion on how predictable monetary policy has become in current times and were soon reminded of the might of a Central Bank in guiding policy discourse. RBI, with its big, bold decisions today, has elevated policy deliberations towards conditions required for the aspirational growth path of the Indian economy despite prevailing global uncertainties.

The Governor Sanjay Malhotra highlighted the strength, stability, and opportunity that the Indian economy presents in what can best be described as a chaotic global backdrop.  He not only emphasized on strong balance sheets of all major economic agents- corporates, banks, households, government, and the external sector, but also underlined stability on all fronts– price, financial, and political- as key strengths of the economy in form of policy and economic certainty.

With a surprise jumbo-sized rate cut of 50 basis points (bps) along with the lowering of CRR by 100 bps, MPC has front-loaded monetary policy support to stimulate domestic demand and growth. This also marks reduction of policy repo rate by a cumulative 100 bps in quick succession since February 2025.

The inflation level in the economy has softened significantly over the last six months. With signs of a broad-based moderation in key commodities, both near-term and medium-term outlook for inflation remain comfortable as well. In fact, RBI has lowered its full year inflation projection by 30 bps to 3.7%, below the target rate of 4%. Lower inflationary conditions provide a window of policy space to support growth, and RBI has grabbed the opportunity to stimulate domestic private consumption and investment.

In the current juncture, frontloading a surprise jumbo-sized rate cut can prove to be a strong signalling mechanism. As the global environment continues to remain uncertain, Indian policymakers have been focused on protecting domestic growth momentum. To that extent, price stability, policy certainties, lower interest rates, and easy financial conditions together provide congenial conditions for domestic consumption, investment, and overall economic activities.

Along with other positive surprises on the growth side, namely, abating credit risk on unsecured loans, reduction in reciprocal tariffs by U.S., FTAs with key global economies etc. should help keep the base case growth expectations supported, limit any potential downside from global developments, and possibly aid an upside to growth momentum as these conditions find their way through consumption and credit demand in the economy.

An all-out dovish tone was marred by a quick reversal of monetary policy stance back to neutral, indicating limited policy space ahead to cut interest rates further. While the messaging remained growth supportive, we are unlikely to see further rate cuts in the current calendar year, unless massive growth drags emerge to threaten the base case outlook. With a data dependent approach, the next couple of MPC meetings are likely to focus on rate transmission and credit demand trends.

Most importantly, cutting CRR at a time when financial system liquidity is already in a surplus indicates a clear bias to use policy levers to move interest rates in the economy structurally lower and boost credit demand as domestic consumption grows in tandem with aspirational growth trajectory for the economy.

(Rajni Thakur is Chief Economist, L&T Finance Ltd.)

Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.