Will the RBI hike rates in February or put off for now?

It is too early to say. However, with rising Omicron cases in India, economists are veering around to the view that RBI may desist from opting for a hawkish stance in February. Instead, RBI may choose to delay normalisation of liquidity and rates. MPC would prefer to err on the side of caution considering the deep impact on output that Omicron could have. Economists now believe that even reverse repo rate hikes may be put off to later.