India keeps key interest rate unchanged

Slower inflation: A vendor waits for customers at his vegetable stall at a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Mumbai. India’s consumer prices rose in April at their lowest annual rate in at least five years. – Reuters

MUMBAI: India’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 6.25%, as widely expected, while lowering projections for inflation and striking a less hawkish tone in a policy statement.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to leave the repo rate at a 6-1/2 year low had been expected by 56 of the 60 analysts surveyed by Reuters ahead of the monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting.