Bringing massive relief to home and auto loan borrowers for the third time in a row, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced reduction in key interest rates on Friday.

This is new RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra’s third Monetary Policy after he took charge at the central bank, succeeding Shaktikanta Das. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting that began on Wednesday, announced the decision to reduce the repo rates by 50 basis points to 5.50 percent.

The Monetary Policy Committee has unanimously decided to slash the policy rate by 50 basis points to 5.50 percent, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said.

In the last MPC meeting held on April 7, 8, and 9, the RBI had already reduced the repo rate by 25 basis points, bringing it down from 6.25 percent to 6 percent. This was the second consecutive rate cut by the RBI. Earlier in February, the central bank had also slashed the repo rate by 25 basis points, from 6.5 per cent to 6.25 per cent, showing a clear shift toward a more accommodative policy approach.

With inflation easing and two back-to-back rate cuts already made, the RBI rate cut was much in tandem with market expectations.