MUMBAI: RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan defended status quo in the monetary policy , saying that he does not want to "flip-flop" on it and is looking for "certainty" on various factors, mainly inflation, before lowering the key interest rate.

Rajan also announced progress in talks with the government on the adoption of a monetary policy framework, saying the inflation target for January 2016 and beyond has been set at 4%, plus or minus 2 percent.

"We have to make sure that the (disinflation) process is well underway. We have had a couple of months (of low inflation) after five years of high inflation. We want to make sure that this is for real especially because we don't intend to flip-flop," Rajan told reporters at the post-policy media briefing after the 5th bi-monthly monetary policy, wherein he left all policy rates unchanged.

"The Reserve Bank wants to get more certainty about the pace of inflation movement before changing its stance," he said. Rajan reiterated that the desire is to have a linear movement once RBI shifts its policy stance to being accommodative, adding that the central bank does not want one policy to offer a cut and the next to raise the rates.

Rajan, who is targeting to contain inflation at 6 percent by January 2016, said disinflation process is underway and factors like the fall in global crude prices are positive for the country that imports over 80 percent of its fuel requirements.