India, Aug. 5 -- The Reserve Bank of India kept its benchmark policy rate unchanged for a fourth consecutive meeting on Wednesday, August 5. The RBI has opted to wait for greater clarity on whether higher energy costs triggered by the Iran war feed into broader inflationary pressures.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee, headed by Governor Sanjay Malhotra, unanimously voted to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 5.25 % and retained its "neutral" policy stance.

The decision leaves India diverging from a growing number of regional central banks, including Indonesia and the Philippines, that have tightened monetary policy in response to higher energy prices and war-driven currency volatility. Instead, the RBI has relied on measures...