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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday released the calendar of bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings for the financial year 2026-27, with the first rate-setting meeting to be held on April 6-8. The six-member rate-setting committee headed by the Governor of the Reserve Bank will hold six meetings in the next financial year. Usually, the six-member committee votes on a proposal on the third day of the meeting and after the voting is completed the RBI Governor announces the decision. The second bi-monthly policy review meeting will conclude on June 3-5, and will be followed by three-day meetings in August, October, December and February, the statement said.

How does MPC work?

India's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a six-member body tasked with setting the benchmark policy rate (repo rate) to control inflation. It consists of three officers of the RBI (including the Governor, who is the Chairman) and three external members appointed by the Central Government. The MPC announces bi-monthly monetary policy after deliberating on the prevailing domestic and economic conditions and taking into account retail inflation. In its last meeting held in February, the committee had kept the short-term lending rate (repo rate) unchanged at 5.25 percent.

How much was cut last year?

The government had initially notified the inflation target with tolerance bands for the period 2016-2021 on August 5, 2016. In the first review conducted in March 2021, this target was retained for the next five years, i.e. till March 2026. Now the second review of this target is to be done by the end of March 2026. Let us tell you that last year RBI had reduced its interest rates by 1.25 percent. Last time RBI had reduced the rate by 25 basis points in the month of December. Now it will be interesting to see whether RBI will keep the interest rates on hold or increase them in the month of April.