Reaction and Comments on RBI’s Monetary Policy Announcement

• Mr Piyush Bothra, Co-Founder and CFO, Square Yards

“The decision to maintain the repo rate at its current level reflects a ‘watchful waiting’ approach amidst a mixed economic landscape. Domestically, India’s growth remains resilient, and recent inflation figures have been benign, staying below the RBI’s target range. However, the global economic environment presents uncertainties, including volatile commodity prices and the monetary policy stances of major central banks, which could have spill-over effects on our economy.

For the residential sector, a further cut would have been a welcome festive bonus for homebuyers. This stability ensures that borrowing costs remain manageable and avoids any sudden shocks to the market. The onus now squarely falls on the banks to enhance the transmission of previous rate cuts, ensuring that the benefits of lower interest rates are fully passed on to homebuyers.”

• Mr Vimal Nadar, National Director and Head of Research, Colliers India.

After consecutive repo rate reduction to the tune of 100 basis points so far in 2025, RBI has decided to keep the repo rate steady at 5.5%. Alongside this, the Central Bank continued to maintain a ‘neutral’ stance, signaling a cautious approach amidst external volatilities and mounting global trade friction. Going ahead, inflation levels are likely to remain low, keeping the GDP growth rate projection for FY 2025-26 intact at 6.5%.

Stability in monetary policy augurs well for homebuyers and real estate developers, particularly in the affordable and mid-income segments. The lowering of interest rates in the recent past is expected to be fully passed on to the end users in upcoming quarters, who are likely to benefit from reduced financing costs. With the festive season approaching, developers can further capitalize on this momentum with timely project completions, new launches and festive offers & discounts. Overall, the cautious yet growth-supportive monetary policy is likely to strengthen demand across real estate segments in the second half of 2025.”

• Mr Amit Prakash Singh, CBO Urban Money & Co-Founder Square Yards

The Reserve Bank of India’s decision to maintain the repo rate at 5.50% reflects a cautious approach in a complex global landscape. For borrowers, this translates directly into a period of stability, with predictable EMIs and interest rates. This also provides the banking system a crucial window to further transmit the benefits of previous rate reductions. All eyes are now on the October policy meeting, where a rate cut is widely expected, which would act as a timely catalyst to boost consumption across sectors and buoy the sentiments during the upcoming festive season.”

• Shrinivas Rao, FRICS, CEO, Vestian

As expected, the RBI has maintained the repo rate at 5.5%, as the effects of earlier rate cuts are still playing out across the economy and the global macroeconomic environment remains uncertain amid trade disruptions and geopolitical tensions With robust economic growth and headline inflation under control, the RBI’s neutral stance reflects its intent to closely monitor evolving conditions. This steady monetary policy is expected to bring stability to the real estate sector and encourage fence-sitters to make investment decisions.

• Mr. Raghvendra Nath, MD, Ladderup Asset Managers, 

The MPC’s decision to hold the repo rate steady at 5.5% hasn’t come as a surprise, as the committee has already frontloaded rate cuts earlier this year and has announced its intent to inject ample liquidity into the banking system, by way of reducing Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR). It is likely that they will continue to remain neutral and assess how effectively the earlier rate cuts are transmitting through the banking system through reduced lending rates, improved credit availability, and greater consumer confidence. This usually takes a few months to reflect. With inflation trends easing, buoyed by a promising monsoon and healthy kharif season, we can expect a rate cut in the second half of FY25.

• Mr. NS Venkatesh, CEO, Bharat InvITs Association,

 “The MPC’s decision to hold the repo rate steady at 5.50% reflects a prudent balance between sustaining growth and containing inflation. For infrastructure financing, this ensures continued stability in borrowing costs, critical for long-term investment instruments like InvITs. Previous rate cuts and CRR reductions have already enhanced liquidity and credit flow. This consistency in policy builds confidence among lenders, sponsors, and institutional investors, encouraging long-term capital commitments. InvITs, in particular, stand to benefit from improved risk-reward profiles, potentially attracting greater private investment in infrastructure and advancing the government’s infrastructure development and asset monetisation agenda in the years to come”

•  Mr. Amitabh Chaturvedi, Founder & Executive Chairman, Purple Finance,

“The RBI’s decision to hold the repo rate at 5.50% and maintain a neutral position is well-timed and balanced. Core inflation has held steady around 4%, and while headline inflation may see an uptick towards the end of the financial year.Growth continues to be very strong, and this maintenance of status quo rates should allow that growth to continue – particularly in MSME and retail lending where there seems to be increasing demand. From our perspective as Purple Finance, we see these conditions supporting continued credit flow, as well as believing there is still a possibility of rate cuts later in the year assuming conditions stabilise for the better.” Mr. Amitabh Chaturvedi, Founder & Executive Chairman, Purple Finance

• Upasna Bhardwaj, Chief Economist, Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Upasna Bhardwaj, Chief Economist, Kotak Mahindra Bank said, “The MPC’s decision to keep rates unchanged comes in the wake of global uncertainties, even as inflation remains benign and downside risks to growth persists. With inflation likely to trend higher post the near term favourable trends, the bar for rate cuts ahead is set very high. We can see some room for the last leg of easing only if growth momentum slows significantly.”Upasna Bhardwaj, Chief Economist, Kotak Mahindra Bank.