The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on July 21 announced the rescheduling of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting by a day in view of administrative exigencies.

The meeting was scheduled for August 2-4, 2022. With the postponement, the meeting will now begin on August 3 and the outcome will be announced on August 5, 202.

The panel, headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, has two representatives from the central bank and three external members. It is widely expected that the RBI may increase the benchmark interest rate to cool down high inflation.

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The retail inflation print was 7.01 percent for June, higher than the RBI's upper tolerance level. The central government has tasked the RBI to ensure that inflation remains at 4 percent with a margin of 2 percent on either side.

The inflation target for the period April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2026, under the RBI Act 1934 is 4 percent with an upper tolerance of 6 percent and a lower tolerance of 2 percent.

To tame inflation, the RBI has raised the interest rate by 90 basis points in the last two months. The repo rate has gone up from 4 percent to 4.90 percent.

First Published:Jul 21, 2022 6:03 PM IST