Highlights of RBI's third quarter monetary policy review

Following are the highlights of the third quarter review of India's monetary and credit policy for fiscal 2007-08 conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Following are the highlights of the third quarter review of India's monetary and credit policy for fiscal 2007-08 conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Mumbai on Tuesday:

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* Bank rate kept unchanged at 6 per cent

* Reverse-repurchase rate and repurchase rate kept unchanged at 6 and 7.75 per cent, respectively

* Cash reserve ratio unchanged at 7.5 per cent

* Economic growth projection for 2007-08 retained at 8.5 per cent

* Stated priority of containing inflation close to 5 per cent

* Headline inflation has picked up since the beginning of December 2007

* Money supply has accelerated

* Aggregate deposits of banks have grown 14.6 per cent

* Non-food credit, although below the projected growth of 24-25 per cent given in the Annual Policy Statement, has been picking up since mid-August 2007

* India's foreign exchange reserves increased by $48.6 billion during April-September, 2007 as against $13.7 billion in the first half of 2006-07.

* Rupee has appreciated 9.61 per cent against the US dollar by January 25, 2008