Mumbai, Oct 27 (PTI) Aiming to tackle inflation, the RBI today marginally tweaked investment norms for banks as part of the first step to exit the easy money policy, but interest rates are likely to remain unchanged for now.

Though RBI raised the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), the portion of deposits that banks are required to invest in government securities, by 100 basis points to 25 per cent, it will have no material implications for the sector as banks are holding securities in excess of the prescribed norms.

The average SLR of banks is already at 27.6 per cent.

"...at this jucture...it may be appropriate to sequence the exit in a calibrated way so that while the recovery process is not hampered, inflation expectations remain unchanged", RBI Governor D Subbarao told reporters.

RBI retained the economic growth forecast at six per cent for FY'10, while upping inflation estimate to 6.

Statutory Liquidity Ratio increase prompts calibrated exit from stimulus while key interest rates remain unchanged. The Reserve Bank raised the Statutory Liquidity Ratio as a first step in a calibrated exit from an easy money stance while leaving key interest rates unchanged; the increase is unlikely to materially affect banks because they already hold government securities above the new requirement, the average SLR being higher than the revised level. The Bank emphasized sequencing withdrawal to protect recovery while addressing inflation expectations and maintained its growth forecast while increasing its inflation estimate.