India's central bank raises repo rate to 5.5 pct

NEW DELHI, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), raised the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.5 percent, as a result of which house loans, personal loans and car loans' equated monthly installments (EMIs) were expected to go up in the days ahead.

The decision to raise the repo rate was taken at a meeting of RBI's Monetary Policy Committee. Repo rate is the rate of interest at which RBI extends loans to commercial banks.

Defending the hike in the repo rate, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra described it as a "calibrated" decision to the evolving macroeconomic conditions in the country.