RBI rate pause: Lock into best available FD rates, and ladder your bets

Debt MFs investing in quality papers and having average maturity of three-five years are good bets

Contrary to the market’s expectation of a 25-basis-point (bp) hike in the repo rate, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday kept the benchmark rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent. While RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das underscored the point that this doesn’t necessarily signal the end of the rate hike cycle, the softening of bond yields showed the market believes otherwise.

“We think the rate cycle has peaked in India. It is likely that we are now in a period of long pause, unless there are near-term surprises to inflation,” says Suyash Choudhary, head of fixed income, Bandhan Mutual Fund.