NEW DELHI: Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel is unlikely to be present before a parliamentary panel on Monday, as he had sought postponement of the meeting for a few days, sources have said. The reasons for postponing the meeting are not confirmed.
However, sources claim that the ongoing standoff between the government and the RBI and the crucial November 19 board meeting could be among the reasons. Considering the heated exchanges between the Centre and the bank over the past few days, it was evident that the meeting would be under intense scrutiny. The RBI governor is naturally refraining from making any appearance ahead of the board meeting.
“The RBI governor has expressed his inability to come on that date and has sought a few more days to appear before the panel,” a member of the panel said.A message sent to the RBI spokesperson remained unanswered. The 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Veerappa Moily, has been deliberating on the issue for almost two years. This was for the third time Urjit Patel was scheduled to appear before the parliamentary panel to deliberate on the “ramifications” of the Modi government’s decision to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
Apart from demonetisation, the other issues on the agenda of the meeting include the IL&FS issue, liquidity and the RBI’s views on the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2018.The parliamentary standing committee had already sought Patel’s views on steps taken by the regulator with regard to IL&FS, as to “why it was allowed to develop into such a magnitude”.The panel was to finalise the Bill and was waiting for the RBI’s opinion before finalising its report on the Bill, which it is supposed to table during the upcoming winter session.