The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will release its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy statement on Thursday following a three-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

According to a poll conducted by CNBC-TV18, 90 percent of the respondents believe it will be a status quo policy as they expect the central bank to refrain from a rate cut given fiscal pressures and the increase in international crude oil prices.

However, all the economists polled expected a change in stance from 'calibrated tightening' to 'neutral' by RBI, making a case for rate cuts going forward.

Up to 50 percent of respondents anticipate 25 basis points cut in the entire calendar year, while the other 50 percent expected two rate cuts of 25 basis points each until December.

On cash reserve ratio (CRR), economists believe that the central bank won't use this tool for the time being. CRR is the amount of funds that banks have to maintain with the RBI at all times.

Forecast on gross domestic product (GDP) is largely expected to remain unchanged with 60 percent of economists anticipating 7.4 percent for this financial year and the first half of next year.

The central bank has maintained status quo on the key lending rate (repo) in its last three bi-monthly policy reviews after raising the rate twice by 25 basis points each in the fiscal. Currently, the repo rate stands at 6.50 percent.

One basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point.

First Published:Feb 6, 2019 3:11 PM IST