Puja Abhishek Singh, CEO, Manipal Fintech:
With inflation remaining an important consideration, the upcoming MPC meeting will be closely watched, with the possibility of a 25 bps rate increase also being discussed. For home loan customers, it can serve as the beginning of stable rate scenarios after the substantial rate reductions seen over the past year. Borrowers on repo-linked loans may see a slight impact on EMIs or loan tenure, while those with older MCLR-linked loans can compare their current rates with available offers and consider switching if it could help them save on their overall borrowing cost. For FD savers, a higher-rate environment could offer an opportunity to earn better returns on deposits, although the impact may vary from bank to bank. Going forward, the RBI’s approach to inflation will be key to the interest-rate outlook.
Rohit Arora, CEO & Co-founder, Biz2Credit and Biz2X
If RBI does move on rates in October, it won’t be a surprise, it will be a response to a genuinely different inflation setup than a year ago: an oil-price shock, a weaker rupee, and a Fed that’s already hiked once. For borrowers, the immediate effect is on loan pricing at the margin, not a sudden credit freeze. What matters more for MSMEs and retail borrowers is whether this is a one-and-done move or the start of a cycle as a single 25-bps hike is manageable, but two hikes back-to-back into December would start showing up in EMIs and working-capital costs in a way businesses need to plan for now, not after the fact.