Mumbai, Aug. 19 -- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) held its policy rate steady even as retail inflation has risen steadily in recent months, with governor Sanjay Malhotra signalling that the central bank has left open the direction of its next rate move, depending on how persistent the price pressures prove to be, the minutes of the August policy meeting, released on Wednesday, showed.

Retail inflation rose from 2.74% in January to 4.45% in July, with food and fuel prices driving much of the recent increase. Yet the RBI's monetary policy committee (MPC) kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.25% at its 5 August meeting, choosing to wait for greater clarity on whether the rise in inflation will persist or become broad-based.

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