New Delhi, Feb. 8 -- Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's business-as-usual budget for 2026-27, presented on 1 February, was followed less than a week later by an equally pragmatic monetary policy decision, Friday last.

In one of the shortest monetary policy announcements to date (just 27 minutes), Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) governor Sanjay Malhotra announced the unanimous decision of its rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to keep the repo rate unchanged and maintain status quo on the stance as well (albeit by a 5:1 majority). For now, the repo rate-at which RBI infuses liquidity into the system-will remain at 5.25%. The stance will also stay neutral.

The decision was not unexpected. Given the impending revision in two key...