For first time, RBI's rate-setting panel to discuss inflation report this week

The central bank has called a special meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on November 3

For the first time since the implementation of the monetary policy framework in 2016, the Reserve Bank will submit a report to the government on its failure to keep the retail inflation rate below six per cent for three consecutive quarters beginning January 2022.

The monetary policy framework, which came into effect about six years ago, mandates the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to maintain retail inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.

In case of failure to maintain the inflation target for three consecutive quarters, the central bank, under section 45ZN of the RBI Act, is required to submit a report to the government explaining the reasons and spelling out the remedial actions it would be taking to check the price rise.

The central bank has called a special meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on November 3, to prepare its report on missing inflation targets to the government. The six-member rate-setting panel is headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.

"Under the provisions of Section 45ZN of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act... an additional meeting of the MPC is being scheduled on November 3, 2022," the central bank said in a statement on Thursday.

Section 45ZN of the Act deals with failure to maintain the inflation target.

Governor Das had earlier said the central bank will not make the report public. It is not clear if the government too would like to keep the report confidential or make it public for wider discussions and deliberations, he had said.