Date: December 17, 2011

RBI does it , Keeps rate unchanged In an expected move, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept key policy rates unchanged in its mid-quarter monetary policy review. Cash reserve ratio (CRR) has been kept unchanged at 6%, repo rate unchanged at 8.5%, reverse repo at 7.5% while SLR is at 24%. Consequently, the marginal standing facility (MSF) too remains at 9.5%. The repo is the rate at which banks borrow money from RBI while banks park surplus money with RBI through reverse repo window. CRR is the fixed portion of total deposits that lenders have to mandatorily keep with the regulator. Food inflation fell to a nearly four-year low of 4.35% in the year to December 3, data on Thursday showed.. India's industrial output slumped more than 5% in October from a year earlier, far worse than expected and the first drop in more than two years, with capital goods output down 25.5%. Overall economic growth slowed to 6.9% in the September quarter, its weakest in two years, and some economists expect India to struggle to reach 7% growth in the fiscal year that ends in March 2012. The government had been targeting 9% earlier this year. Rate hikes at a glance since April, 2010   Date Reverse Repo Repo October 25, 2011 25 (7.50) 25 (8.50) September 16, 2011 25 (7.25) 25 (8.25) July 26, 2011 50 (7.00) 50 (8.00) * June 16, 2011 25 (6.50) 25 (7.50) May 03, 2011  50 (6.25) 50 (7.25) March 17, 2011 25 (5.75)* 25 (6.75) January 25, 2011 25  (5.50) 25  (6.50) November 02, 2010 25  (5.25) 25  (6.25) September 02, 2010 50  (4.75) 25  (6.00) August 27, 2010 50  (4.25) 25  (5.75) August 02, 2010 25  (4.00) 25  (5.50) April 20, 2010 25  (3.75) 25  (5.25)             *The bracketed figures show Reverse repo and repo in percentage term.