New Delhi: The Central Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday approved the nomination of Indranil Bhattacharyya, Executive Director, as an ex-officio member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
The decision was taken at the 618th meeting of the Central Board of Directors of the RBI under the Chairmanship of Governor Sanjay Malhotra in Lucknow.
Bhattacharyya has taken over from Rajiv Ranjan, who leads the Department of Economic and Policy Research at the central bank. Ranjan has been one of the three RBI representatives on the MPC since May 2022.
“The Board assessed the emerging global and domestic economic landscape, including the geopolitical and financial market developments and associated challenges. The Board reviewed the functioning of select Central Office Departments of the Bank and also of Committees of Central Board and the Ombudsman Scheme,” according a statement by the Central Bank.
Deputy Governors M. Rajeshwar Rao; T. Rabi Sankar; Swaminathan J.; Dr. Poonam Gupta and other Directors of the Central Board attended the meeting.
According to the rules of the constitution of the committee, the MPC will consist of three external members, the RBI governor, one deputy governor and one member recommended by the central board of the RBI.
Typically, that last position goes to the ED of the monetary policy department.
Earlier this month, the RBI MPC decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.5 per cent, while sticking to the “neutral” monetary policy stance. A neutral stance requires neither stimulation nor curbs on liquidity as it strikes a fine balance between controlling inflation without hurting growth.
The RBI retained its forecast for India’s GDP growth at 6.5 per cent for FY 2025-26, despite global uncertainties, as it expects strong rural demand on the back of a good monsoon and robust government expenditure on big ticket infrastructure projects to propel growth.
(IANS)
