No change in your home loan EMIs as RBI keeps policy rates unchanged

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Your equated monthly instalments (EMIs) will remain the same after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on April 7 maintained status quo on policy rates at its first bi-monthly monetary policy review for the current fiscal. The six-member MPC has kept the repo rate steady at 4% with an accommodative stance. Repo rate is the rate at which the RBI provides liquidity to banks to overcome short-term mismatches. On the other hand, reverse repo rate also stood unchanged at 3.35%.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the recent surge in Covid-19 infections has created uncertainty over the economic growth recovery. On the other hand, he added that the central bank retail economic growth for the financial year 2021-22 at 10.5%.

“The focus must be on containing the spread of the virus and economic recovery,” said Das.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex traded around 300 points higher at 49508 at around 10 am (IST), while the NSE Nifty index was up 92 points at 14,776.

Commenting on the outcome, S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities said: “RBI kept rates unchanged as expected and will continue with its accommodative stance to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. An increase in the pace of vaccination and rural demand would in our view help growth.”

The Reserve Bank of India also announced Rs 50,000 crore additional liquidity facility to NABARD, NHB and SIDBI for fresh lending during 2021-22.

Lincoln Bennet Rodrigues, Founder and Chairman, Bennet & Bernard Group said, “While the real estate industry always aspires for reduced interest rates, the decision of RBI to keep the repo rate unchanged is understandable at this juncture and will make sure that home loans will continue to remain at attractive rates and this should augur well for home buying sentiment. Residential demand is reviving in the pandemic context and this needs to be fostered.”