RBI reschedules next MPC meet to Aug 3-5 due to 'administrative exigencies'

The Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) meeting that was scheduled from August 2-4 will now be held from August 3-5, the Reserve Bank of India said on Thursday.

“Due to administrative exigencies, it has been decided to reschedule the MPC meeting. This announcement is being made under Section 45ZI (4) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934,” the RBI said in a statement

The last time an MPC meet was rescheduled was in February 2022 after the demise of renowned singer Lata Mangeshkar.

In May 2022, the MPC held an off-cycle meeting after which a repo rate hike of 40 basis points was announced.

Since then, the MPC has raised the repo rate by an additional 50 basis points to 4.9%.

With Consumer Price Index based inflation remaining well above the upper bound of the MPC’s target band of 2%-6%, the committee is widely expected to hike the repo rate again at the August meeting.