The Reserve Bank of India said on Sunday that its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, planned for February 7-9, has been postponed by one day.

Because the Maharashtra government has declared a public holiday on Monday in honour of iconic singer Lata Mangeshkar, who died on Sunday, the meeting has been rescheduled.

"With the Government of Maharashtra declaring February 7, 2022 as a public holiday under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 in honour of Bharat Ratna Ku. Lata Mangeshkar, the MPC meeting has been postponed to February 8-10, 2022," the RBI said in a statement.

The Reserve Bank of India stated it is issuing the statement under Section 45ZI(4) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, to postpone the MPC meeting. The next bi-monthly monetary policy was supposed to be released on Wednesday after a three-day debate, but that date has been pushed back to Thursday. During the meeting, experts expect the RBI to maintain the status quo on key policy rates.

The last MPC meeting, held in December 2021, left the benchmark interest rate at 4% and chose to keep its accommodative stance despite concerns over the development of the novel coronavirus variant Omicron. The rate-setting panel had kept the status quo for the eighth time in a row.

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