NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday met financial sector regulators and top economic secretaries to discuss liquidity crisis in Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC), recapitalisation of Public Sector Banks (PSB) suffering from high bad loan levels, the forthcoming Union Budget, state of the overall economy and impact of global economic triggers on it.
“As discussed in the other FSDC (Financial Stability and Development Council) meetings, there was a general review of the current state of the economy, of the overall macro-economic situation, global developments, and there was a discussion on the forthcoming Budget and various Budget-related suggestions and proposals,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said after the meeting. The FSDC is the apex body of financial sector regulators.
Asked about the outlook for the economy, Das said the current situation has already been spelt out after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting earlier this month.
“In the post MPC press conference, I have personally elaborated on the risks to global growth. On the outlook for India, we have projected 7 per cent growth for the current year. We have also flagged other issues in the MPC resolution and in the statement that I made after the MPC. Beyond that, I have nothing to add,” Das said, adding that the Bimal Jalan committee, which is looking into the size of capital reserves that the RBI should hold, is likely to submit its final report by the end of this month.
The Council was also apprised of the progress made towards setting up of the Financial Data Management Centre to facilitate integrated data aggregation and analysis, as also a Computer Emergency Response Team towards strengthening the cybersecurity framework for the financial sector, an FSDC statement said.
Important inputs
FSDC held consultations to obtain inputs of financial sector regulators for the Union Budget 2019-20. All regulators presented their proposals for the Budget.