The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which decides on key interest rates, will meet six times during the next financial year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Wednesday.

Announcing the dates, the RBI said the first meeting of the six-member MPC to decide on the first bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2021-22 will be held from April 5 to 7. The policy will be announced on 7 April.

The second meeting of the MPC in the next fiscal will be held on June 2, 3 and 4; third meeting (August 4-6); fourth meeting (October 6-8); fifth meeting (December 6-8) and sixth meeting (February 7-9, 2022).

In 2016, the government moved the interest rate-setting role from the RBI governor to the six-member MPC. As per the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the central bank is required to organise at least four meetings of the MPC in a year.