RBI policy committee advised Raghuram Rajan to hold rates in April

All members of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy technical advisory committee recommended that Governor Raghuram Rajan keep interest rates unchanged at its policy review on April 1.

That was ultimately the decision taken by Rajan, as the RBI kept the policy repo rate at 8 per cent this month because of easing consumer inflation. The decision was in line with market expectations.

In India, the RBI governor decides on monetary policy, while the technical advisory committee serves as a advisory body.

According to minutes out on Friday, most members also recommended that the central bank should focus on building up forex reserves to manage capital outflow risks, while one member of the committee was in favour of lowering the banks' statutory liquidity ratio to 22 per cent from 23 per cent.

(Reuters)