New RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, who is chairing his first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, will announce the decision of the six-member panel on Friday morning, amid widespread expectations of 25 basis points reduction in interest rate after a gap of nearly five years.

The Reserve Bank of India announced a 25 basis point cut in the repo rate, now at 6.25%, the first reduction in five years. The decision follows declining inflation rates and the need to support economic growth.

RBI had last reduced the repo rate by 40 basis points to 4 per cent in May 2020 to help the economy tide over the crisis following the outbreak of the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdown.