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On the RBI Monetary Policy Committee's decision to keep the benchmark repo rate unchanged, Neelkanth Mishra, Executive Director for India at the World Bank Headquarters, said, "I think it's a very rational response. There is no reason for any rate changes or stance changes because there is no inflationary pressure building up which is sticky. Clearly, I think with oil prices staying higher, there will be upward revisions to inflation for one year. But unless you think that the $72-$100 oil change is going to become $130 the next year, there's no reason to expect that this will be sticky. Without any evidence of sticky inflation, I think it was unwise to raise rates. Some people in the markets wanted a rate hike to protect the currency from further depreciation. But my advice has been steadily that rate hikes to prevent panic in the currency market, like option 15, not option 1, because it is too costly on the growth side, and frankly, often doesn't work. I'm very glad that RBI has kept it unchanged."