NEW DELHI, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- India's central banking institution, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Friday announced it has kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 percent.

Repo rate is the rate at which the central bank lends money to commercial banks in the event of shortfall of funds.

"On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation at its meeting today, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.5 percent," said a statement issued by RBI.

"Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains at 6.25 percent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.75 percent."

The decision to keep the repo rate unchanged comes at a time when Indian currency is rapidly plunging against the U.S. dollar.

The RBI had last raised interest rates in two successive policy reviews in August and June this year.

Meanwhile, the central bank retained GDP growth estimate at 7.4 percent for fiscal year ending in March 2019.

The MPC is a committee of RBI that is responsible for fixing the benchmark interest rate in India. The meetings of the MPC are held at least four times a year and after every such meeting, it publishes its decisions.