Since January 2013 the RBI has cut the repo rate 21 times and raised it 12. Drag the slider to see, month by month, what inflation, growth and the rupee were doing when it moved.
The RBI cut the repo rate by 75 bp to 4.40% on 27 March 2020 and by 40 bp more in May. In April to June 2020 GDP fell 23.1% from a year earlier, the deepest fall in this series.
Inflation was above the RBI's 6% limit in 10 months of 2022. The repo rate went from 4.00% to 6.50% by February 2023, 250 bp in six steps.
Inflation touched 0.25% in October 2025, below the 2% floor, while the RBI cut the repo rate from 6.50% to 5.25%. Then prices turned up, and on 2026-10-07 the MPC raised the repo rate to 5.50%.
The RBI's job is to keep CPI inflation at 4%, inside a band of 2% to 6%. It raises the repo rate when inflation runs hot, to make borrowing dearer and cool demand, and cuts it when inflation is low or growth needs help. The shaded band in the inflation panel is that 2 to 6% target range.
Two limits matter. First, a rate change acts with a lag, often two to four quarters, so a hike this month shows up in prices next year, not next month. Second, much Indian inflation comes from food and fuel, which a higher repo rate affects only weakly. In 2022 the rise came from outside, in oil, fertiliser and food after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the RBI's hikes could only tame the demand side.
In September 2026 CPI inflation was 5.54% against a repo rate of 5.25% at month end, a real repo rate of -0.29 percentage points. A real rate near zero or below means borrowing is cheap in real terms. The atlas tracks it on the real repo rate page.
The panels use different bases and periods and the page does not hide that. CPI is the 2012-base series to December 2025 and the 2024-base series from January 2026; they are never joined into one index, and the gap in April and May 2020 is a real one, when the lockdown stopped price collection. GDP growth is the 2011-12 base before 2023-24 and the 2022-23 base after, shown for the quarter each month falls in. The rupee is the World Bank's average for the financial year, so it moves in steps and is not yet available for 2026-27.
| Date | Repo rate | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-07 | 5.50% | +25 bp | MPC resolution, 5–7 October 2026 (unanimous; stance 4–2) |
| 2025-12-05 | 5.25% | −25 bp | MPC resolution, December 2025 (unanimous) |
| 2025-06-06 | 5.50% | −50 bp | MPC resolution, 4–6 June 2025 (5–1 vote) |
| 2025-04-09 | 6.00% | −25 bp | MPC resolution, 7–9 April 2025 (unanimous) |
| 2025-02-07 | 6.25% | −25 bp | MPC resolution, 5–7 February 2025 |
| 2023-02-08 | 6.50% | +25 bp | MPC resolution, 6–8 February 2023 |
| 2022-12-07 | 6.25% | +35 bp | MPC, December 2022 |
| 2022-09-30 | 5.90% | +50 bp | MPC, September 2022 |
| 2022-08-05 | 5.40% | +50 bp | MPC, August 2022 |
| 2022-06-08 | 4.90% | +50 bp | MPC, June 2022 |
| 2022-05-04 | 4.40% | +40 bp | MPC, off-cycle, 4 May 2022 |
| 2020-05-22 | 4.00% | −40 bp | MPC, off-cycle, 22 May 2020 |
| 2020-03-27 | 4.40% | −75 bp | MPC, off-cycle, 27 March 2020 (COVID-19) |
| 2019-10-04 | 5.15% | −25 bp | MPC, October 2019 |
| 2019-08-07 | 5.40% | −35 bp | MPC, August 2019 |
| 2019-06-06 | 5.75% | −25 bp | MPC, June 2019 |
| 2019-04-04 | 6.00% | −25 bp | MPC, April 2019 |
| 2019-02-07 | 6.25% | −25 bp | MPC, February 2019 |
| 2018-08-01 | 6.50% | +25 bp | MPC, August 2018 |
| 2018-06-06 | 6.25% | +25 bp | MPC, June 2018 |
| 2017-08-02 | 6.00% | −25 bp | MPC, August 2017 |
| 2016-10-04 | 6.25% | −25 bp | MPC, 3–4 October 2016 (the first MPC meeting) |
| 2016-04-05 | 6.50% | −25 bp | RBI policy review, April 2016 |
| 2015-09-29 | 6.75% | −50 bp | RBI policy review, September 2015 |
| 2015-06-02 | 7.25% | −25 bp | RBI policy review, June 2015 |
| 2015-03-04 | 7.50% | −25 bp | RBI off-cycle cut, 4 March 2015 |
| 2015-01-15 | 7.75% | −25 bp | RBI off-cycle cut, 15 January 2015 |
| 2014-01-28 | 8.00% | +25 bp | RBI policy review, January 2014 |
| 2013-10-29 | 7.75% | +25 bp | RBI policy review, October 2013 |
| 2013-09-20 | 7.50% | +25 bp | RBI policy review, September 2013 (Governor Rajan's first) |
| 2013-05-03 | 7.25% | −25 bp | RBI policy review, May 2013 |
| 2013-03-19 | 7.50% | −25 bp | RBI policy review, March 2013 |
| 2013-01-29 | 7.75% | −25 bp | RBI policy review, January 2013 |