MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Economy)

Context: The Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy committee recently held the policy repo rate steady at 6.5% for the fourth consecutive meeting, while keeping its 2023-24 GDP growth and inflation forecasts unchanged.

Monetary Policy Committee

• About: It was established based on the recommendation of the Urjit Patel Committee.
• Set up: Under Section 45ZB of the RBI Act of 1934 by the Union government.
• Composition: It is a 6 member committee. There are in total three internal members and three external experts. The RBI Governor and Deputy Governor are also members of the MPC Committee.
• Objectives: To improve the repo rate, reverse repo rate, liquidity, etc.
• Instruments of Committee: Repo rate, Reverse Repo rate, Marginal Standing Facility (MSF), Bank Rate, Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), Open Market Operations (OMOs)

Repo rate: The Repo Rate is the interest rate at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) loans money to commercial banks.

Reverse repo rate: Reverse repo is the inverse contract to the repo rate. The reverse repo rate is the rate at which the RBI borrows funds from the country's commercial banks.