The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced its key repo rate on Friday for the first time since May 2020, aiming to provide stimulus to the sluggish economy, which is projected to grow at its slowest pace in four years during the current fiscal year.

The repo rate, till now, stood at 6.5 per cent. The move comes barely a week after the Centre cut personal income tax to boost consumption.

After cutting the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 bps from 4.5% of NDTL, to 4.0% of NDTL in the December 2024 policy, the RBI maintained status quo on CRR in the February 2025 policy. With the system liquidity deficit still at ₹1.96 Trillion, another CRR cut was expected to bridge the current liquidity gap, but that was not to be.