LIVE: More than 60 Congress MPs released after 6 hours of detention

Congress on Friday held a nationwide protest against the rise in inflation, GST rate and unemployment. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) members and senior leaders planned a "PM House gherao" while Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs held a "Chalo Rashtrapati Bhavan" from Parliament.

Rahul Gandhi and other Congress MPs arrived in Parliament wearing black clothes. Ahead of Congress' planned demonstrations, the Delhi Police imposed Section 144 in New Delhi and denied party the permission to hold protests. Despite no permission from the Delhi Police, the party leaders said that they will go ahead with their proposed protest march.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC’s) statement on Friday announced a rate hike of 50 basis points to 5.40 per cent, highest since 2019. The bi-monthly meeting of the RBI MPC started on Wednesday, and RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday announced that the MPC unanimously decided to hike the policy rate.

Das said, "MPC decided to focus on withdrawal of accommodation to keep inflation within target while supporting growth". RBI MPC revised the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) and bank rates to 5.65 per cent from 5.15 per cent, announced Governor Das.

The real GDP projection for FY23 was retained at 7.2 per cent with Q1 at 16.2 per cent, Q2 at 6.2 per cent, Q3 at 4.1 per cent, Q4 at 4 per cent, with risks broadly balanced, governor Das said. Das said that the consumer price inflation remains uncomfortably high and inflation is expected to remain above 6 per cent. He projected that CPI inflation for current fiscal year at  6.7 per cent and that for FY 2023-24 at 5 per cent.