The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) constituted by the Central Government under Section 45ZB determines the policy interest rate required to achieve the inflation target. The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (RBI Act) has been amended by the Finance Act, 2016, to provide for a statutory and institutionalised framework for a Monetary Policy Committee, for maintaining price stability, while keeping in mind the objective of growth. The Monetary Policy Committee would be entrusted with the task of fixing the benchmark policy rate (repo rate) required to contain inflation within the specified target level. A Committee-based approach for determining the Monetary Policy will add lot of value and transparency to monetary policy decisions. The meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee shall be held at least 4 times a year and it shall publish its decisions after each such meeting. As per the provisions of the RBI Act, out of the six Members of Monetary Policy Committee, three Members will be from the RBI and the other three Members of MPC will be appointed by the Central Government. The Government, in consultation with RBI, has notified the inflation target in the Gazette of India Extraordinary dated 5th August 2016 for the period beginning from the date of publication of this notification and ending on the March 31, 2021, as under:-
Inflation Target: Four per cent.
Upper tolerance level: Six per cent.
Lower tolerance level: Two per cent.