<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The three day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee began in Mumbai today amid expectations of a status quo on policy rates. The sixth and the last monetary policy statement for the current fiscal will be announced by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday morning at 10 am.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">It may be recalled that RBI has kept the short-term lending rate or repo rate stable at 6.5 percent for almost a year now. The last rate hike of 25 basis points was announced in February 2023, mainly to contain inflation. After touching a high of 7.44 percent in July last year, retail inflation has come down to 5.69 percent in December 2023 to fit within the RBI's comfort zone of 4-6 percent. </p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">A recent report by the State Bank of India also said that RBI will continue to maintain status quo on rates, adding that the first rate cut can be expected in the June to August period. The report further expects RBI to continue with the withdrawal of accommodation stance. On inflation, the report said that the figure is expected to come around 5.4 percent for 2023-24 and may further decline to 4.6-4.8 percent in the next fiscal. </p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>