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Policy Action

• The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 5.25%.

The Indian IT services industry is at a crossroads again, raising questions about how disruptive the next technology wave could be. Interestingly, this is not the first time that the sector has been perceived to be under existential threat; we have been here a few times before.

Happy Holi! The season of colours is upon us. On this happy day, we mark the beginning of spring and the end of winter. May this auspicious day add colour to your lives.

Key Takeaways

Policy continuity: The RBI held the repo rate at 5.25% and retained its “Neutral” stance, reinforcing the December policy framework.

“The patterns repeat, though the details never do.”
—Howard Marks, American investor and co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management

Is it really different this time?

There’s a famous line often attributed to Mark Twain – ‘History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes’.

Now that I have your attention with that clickbait headline, let’s get down to the truth!

Fixed income funds have delivered strong returns over the past two years as inflation declined sharply from the post-pandemic surge of 2022–23. This disinflationary impulse enabled central banks to pivot decisively towards monetary easing, with 211 and 189 policy rate cuts recorded by global central banks in 2024 and 2025, respectively, well above the post-GFC peak of 181 cuts in 2009 (Source: Bloomberg).