Mumbai, Oct. 15 -- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could raise interest rates even before its next scheduled monetary policy meeting in December, according to a Union Bank of India research report, as rising inflation and pressure on the rupee increase the possibility of further monetary tightening.

The report also indicated that the central bank could raise interest rates by 50 basis points at its December policy meeting, following the 25-basis-point hike announced earlier this month.

"We cannot rule out the probability of a 50 bps rate hike in Dec'26 meet, with possibility of an inter-meeting hike, given that RBI Governor's signalling that monetary policy may be used to defend Rupee," the report said.

An inter-meeting rate hike would...