India, June 6 -- Corrected ninth para
India's central bank lowered its interest rates by 50 basis points on Friday, marking the third consecutive reduction and also shifted its monetary policy stance to neutral. At the three-day meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India, led by Governor Sanjay Malhotra, decided to cut the policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.50 percent.
Markets anticipated only a quarter point reduction. The bank has reduced the repo rate by 25 basis points each in February and April.
Five members of the MPC voted to cut the rate by 50 basis points, while one member called for a quarter-point reduction.
"After having reduced the policy repo rate by 100 bps in quick succession since February...