RBI postpones MPC meet to February 8

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Sunday announced rescheduling of rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting by a day in view of Maharashtra declaring public holiday on February 7 to mourn death of Bharat Ratna legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar.
The meeting was scheduled for February 7-9, 2022.

With the postponement, the meeting will now begin on February 8 and the outcome would be announced on February 10.

“With February 7, 2022 being declared a public holiday by the Government of Maharashtra under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 as a mark of respect to Bharat Ratna Ku. Lata Mangeshkar, the MPC meeting has been rescheduled to February 8-10, 2022,” RBI said in a late evening statement.

Mangeshkar, whose voice struck an instant chord of recognition with generations of South Asians and is considered one of India’s greats, died in a Mumbai hospital on Sunday due to multiple organ failure. She was 92.

The Reserve Bank is likely to maintain the status quo on key policy rates in its next bi-monthly economic policy, which will be the first after the presentation of the Union Budget for 2022-23.

Experts, however, are of the opinion that RBI’s MPC may change the policy stance from ‘accommodative’ to ‘neutral’ and tinker with the reverse-repo rate as part of the liquidity normalisation process.