RBI Repo Rate Today: Current Rate and MPC Calendar

The RBI repo rate today is 5.25%, unchanged after the Monetary Policy Committee’s unanimous August 2026 decision and its fourth consecutive pause. For retail investors and borrowers, the key next policy review is scheduled for 5 to 7 October, with the RBI guided by headline inflation.

The RBI repo rate is 5.25%. It has been held there since the Monetary Policy Committee met on 3 to 5 August 2026, and the next review is scheduled for 5 to 7 October 2026.

That August decision was unanimous and marked the fourth consecutive meeting without a change. Governor Sanjay Malhotra described the stance as neither dovish nor hawkish, saying the committee would continue to be guided by headline inflation.

All current RBI policy rates

The repo rate gets the headlines, but it sits inside a corridor. These are the rates in force as of August 2026, as published by the Reserve Bank.

Notice the shape: SDF at 5.00%, repo at 5.25%, MSF at 5.50%. That is the liquidity adjustment corridor, 25 basis points either side of the repo rate. Overnight money market rates are meant to stay inside it.

MPC meeting calendar for FY 2026-27

The Monetary Policy Committee meets six times a financial year. Each meeting runs three days, with the decision announced on the final morning, usually at 10am, followed by a press conference.

The RBI publishes the full schedule in advance on its website. Dates occasionally shift, and the Governor can convene an off-cycle meeting if conditions demand it, as happened during the pandemic. Check the RBI press release page before planning around any specific date.

What the repo rate actually is

When a bank runs short of funds overnight, it can borrow from the Reserve Bank by selling government securities with an agreement to buy them back the next day. That is a repurchase agreement, shortened to repo. The interest charged is the repo rate.

It matters far beyond that overnight transaction because it sets the floor cost of money for the entire banking system. If a bank can borrow from RBI at 5.25%, it has little reason to lend to anyone else for less. Every other rate in the economy is built on top of it.

Repo rate and your EMI

Since October 2019, the RBI has required banks to link all new floating-rate retail loans, including home loans, to an external benchmark. Most banks chose the repo rate itself. These are called repo-linked lending rates, or RLLR.

The practical consequence: when the repo rate moves, your floating home loan rate moves with it, and banks must reset at least once every three months. This is a real change from the older MCLR system, where transmission was slow and often incomplete.

Your actual rate is the repo rate plus a spread. The spread covers the bank’s costs, margin and its assessment of your credit risk. So a borrower on repo plus 2.65% is currently paying 7.90%.

One point that catches people out: when rates fall, most banks keep your EMI constant and shorten the tenure instead. If you want the EMI reduced, you usually have to ask.

Repo rate and your deposits

Transmission to deposits is slower and less mechanical. Fixed deposit rates are set by each bank based on its own funding needs, not by formula. A repo cut usually reaches FD rates eventually, but banks flush with deposits may cut faster, and banks chasing deposits may hold rates up for months.

Savings account rates are the slowest of all to move, and most large banks leave them unchanged through entire rate cycles.

Who decides, and how

The Monetary Policy Committee has six members. Three are from the Reserve Bank: the Governor, the Deputy Governor in charge of monetary policy, and one RBI officer. Three are external members appointed by the central government.

Each member has one vote. If the vote splits three-three, the Governor has a casting vote in addition to their own. Every member’s vote and their reasoning are published in the minutes, released fourteen days after the meeting. Those minutes are the most useful document for anyone trying to read where policy is heading, because they show whether a unanimous decision was genuinely settled or a close call.

The inflation target

The MPC operates under a formal mandate: keep consumer price inflation at 4%, with a tolerance band of 2% to 6%. This flexible inflation targeting framework was adopted in 2016.

If average inflation stays outside that 2 to 6 band for three consecutive quarters, the RBI is required to write to the government explaining the failure, what it plans to do, and how long the correction will take. That has happened, and the accountability is real.

This mandate is why the RBI does not simply cut rates when growth slows. Headline CPI is the target, and the Governor’s August comment about being guided by headline inflation was a reminder of exactly that.

Stance, and why the word matters

Alongside the rate, the MPC announces a stance. The current stance is neutral.

• Accommodative signals a bias toward cutting or holding low to support growth.
• Neutral means the committee has not committed either way and will move as data dictates.
• Withdrawal of accommodation signals liquidity being pulled back, usually a tightening bias.
• Calibrated tightening signals cuts are off the table.

Markets often react more to a stance change than to the rate itself, because the stance is the forward guidance. A hold with a shift from neutral to accommodative would be read as a cut being prepared.

What to watch before the October meeting

If you want to form your own view rather than wait for headlines, four things carry most of the signal:

1. Monthly CPI inflation, released around the 12th of each month by MoSPI. This is the target variable. Food inflation drives most of the volatility in the Indian print.
2. The MPC minutes, published fourteen days after each meeting. A unanimous hold with several members flagging upside inflation risk is a very different signal from a unanimous hold with members discussing room to cut.
3. GDP growth prints and the RBI’s own projections, revised at each policy.
4. The rupee and crude oil. A weak rupee imports inflation, and India imports most of its crude. Governor Malhotra explicitly cited global uncertainty tied to the West Asia conflict in August.

Common questions

What is the repo rate today?
5.25%, unchanged since the August 2026 policy.

When is the next RBI MPC meeting?
5 to 7 October 2026, with the decision announced on the morning of 7 October.

How is repo different from reverse repo?
Repo is RBI lending to banks. Reverse repo is banks lending to RBI. The fixed reverse repo rate still exists at 3.35% but is largely dormant, because the Standing Deposit Facility at 5.00% now serves as the effective floor.

Will my home loan EMI change when the repo rate changes?
If your loan is repo-linked, yes, at the next reset, which must happen at least once every three months. If it is on the older MCLR system, only at your loan’s own reset date, which may be six or twelve months away.

Does a repo cut immediately lower FD rates?
Not immediately and not mechanically. Deposit rates are each bank’s commercial decision and typically lag policy by weeks or months.

The short version

Repo is 5.25%, held unanimously in August 2026 with a neutral stance, and reviewed again on 5 to 7 October. If your home loan is repo-linked it resets at least quarterly. If you are watching for the next move, the monthly CPI print and the MPC minutes will tell you more than any forecast.