India, Feb. 7 -- New Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Sanjay Malhotra on Friday, February 7, announced that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to cut the benchmark repo rate by 6.5%.

Sanjay Malhotra also announced that the RBI estimates real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the next year to be at about 6.7% for the first quarter, 6.7% for the second quarter, 7% for the third quarter, and 6.5% for the fourth quarter.

The previous MPC decision, led by former RBI Governor Shatikanta Das was to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%.

The decision was taken by a 4:2 majority, Das had said.

The MPC also decided to hold the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate at 6.25% while the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) and Bank...