RBI decision on expected lines: FinMin

Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday said RBI's move to keep the policy rate intact was on the expected lines.

He said one has to wait for the Budget to know the government strategy on the fiscal consolidation road map. The Budget is expected to be tabled in Parliament on February 29.

Read our full coverage on Union Budget 2016

The finance ministry is grappling with the issue of fiscal consolidation road map. It has received all sorts of advices-- to defer the road map by one more year, stay on the path and not to tie itself with any fiscal deficit number.

As RBI expected inflation would be 5% in FY17, Das said one has to see how inflation turns from here.

Markets extend losses; Sensex down 100 points

Markets have turned weak in the afternoon session as selling pressure intensified across the board. The weakness in European equities on account of lowering crude oil prices has also dented the sentiments.

At 2:35 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex shed 113 points at 24,711 and the Nifty50 lost 45 points at 7,509.

The RBI at its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy review on Tuesday kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.75%. The cash reserve ratio (CRR), or the portion of a bank’s money maintained with the central bank in cash, was also unchanged at 4%. The RBI, however, indicated that rates would continue to soften, prompted by benign inflation and weak economic and industrial growth.