RBI slashes key rate 40 bps to new all-time low

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday unexpectedly cut key interest rates by 40 basis points, citing negative GDP growth in the current fiscal amidst a "double whammy" of loss of production as well as demand even as it said it expected inflation to harden in the first half of the fiscal year. The RBI also allowed lenders to extend an ongoing moratorium on loan repayment, which was due to end on May 31, by another three months to August 31.