The Reserve Bank of India today unveiled its Monetary Policy in which it kept interest rates steady. Here are quick highlights from the RBI's Monetary Policy (Credit Policy) unveiled today.

Repo Rates Unchanged

The RBI kept the policy repo rates under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 7.75 per cent.

A cut in these rates generally means lower borrowing costs for banks, which may or may not pass on these benefits to customer.

Reduction in SLR

The RBI Monetary Policy reduced the Statutory Liquidity Ratio or SLR of scheduled commercial banks by 50 basis points from 22.0 per cent to 21.5 per cent of their NDTL with effect from the fortnight beginning February 7, 2015.

The SLR is a portion of of gold, cash, government bonds or other approved securities that the banks keep with the RBI. This minimum percentage is called Statutory Liquidity Ratio.

ECR Changes

The RBI also replaced the export credit refinance (ECR) facility with the provision of system level liquidity with effect from February 7, 2015.

Upside Risks to Inflation

The RBI has highlighted some of the upside risks to inflation. The central banks has said that the risks to inflation come from the unlikely possibility of significant fiscal slippage, uncertainty on the spatial and temporal distribution of the monsoon during 2015 as also the low probability but highly influential risks of reversal of international crude prices due to geo-political events.

Daily Variable Rate Term Repo and Reverse Repo Auctions

The RBI decided to continue with daily variable rate term repo and reverse repo auctions to smooth liquidity.

Banking Stocks React to RBI Credit Policy

Banking stocks reacted negatively to the RBI Policy meet. Punjab National Bank was trading lower by 3.25 per cent, while HDFC Bank fell 1.2 per cent and Kotak Bank dropped 2 per cent in trade.

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