RBI's report on breach of inflation target for three straight quarters not to be made public: Govt

Government will not publicly release Reserve Bank of India letter on missing inflation target, said Pankaj Chaudhary, MoS Finance, in Lok Sabha on Monday. 

RBI has furnished a report to the Centre, as mandated under Sectiom 45ZN of the RBI Act. 

"Yes sir, RBI has furnished a report to the central government, as mandated under Section 45ZN of the RBI Act, 1934 and Regulation 7 of RBI Monetary Policy Committee and Monetary Policy process Regulations, 2016," minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply. The said provisions of the RBI Act, 1934, and regulations therein does not provide for making the report public, he said.

The report was necessitated as average inflation was above the upper tolerance level of the inflation target, that is 6% for 3 consecutive quarters during January-September, 2022.

During the January-March quarter, the average inflation was 6.3%, in April-June period it was 7.3% and it eased to 7% in September quarter.

It was the first time since the monetary policy framework came into effect in 2016 that RBI had to give an explanation to the government.

The retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) has remained above 6% since January 2022. It was 7.41% in September. The six-member MPC headed by Governor Shaktikanta Das factors in retail inflation while deciding the bi-monthly monetary policy.

Since May, the RBI has raised the short term lending rate (repo) by 2.25 basis points, taking it to a nearly three-year high of 6.25%.