The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has already reduced the repo rate by 100 basis points since February, amidst declining consumer price index (CPI) based inflation. After reducing the repo rate three times in a row, the RBI hit a pause button in August. “A rate cut in September is the best possible option for RBI, which also projects it as a forward-looking central bank,’ the SBI study said. The report, authored by Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Advisor of SBI, expects the CPI inflation may further decline by 65-75 bps due to the huge GST rationalisation. All these factors (GST, base revision) indicate that CPI inflation will remain around lower end of inflation target for the entire FY26 and FY27,” it said.