Sneak peak into RBI's 9-hour-long board meeting; read the inside story
The Reserve Bank of India's meeting has sensationalised the nation and the people associated with it, catching all the attention with every new development. The nine-hour-long conclave was organised at RBI office in Mumbai on Monday.
The spectators, who were following the RBI and government tussle case, were hoping the conflict to end with the meet. The meeting however did not end on a happy note.
Seven hours out of nine spent on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) board meeting on Monday were taken up by presentation only, news agency ANI has quoted a board member as saying. "We attended the Monday meeting with complete preparation and were not tense. It was an intellectual debate and the meeting was intellectually stimulating," said the member, who didn't want to be identified.
Announcements following the marathon board meeting failed to calm investors, as the Street expected implementation of the proposed measures to take time.
The meeting was chaired by RBI Governor Urjit Patel and four other deputy governors. Deputy Governor NS Vishwanathan gave the presentation on behalf of RBI.
Also read: Urijit Patel may not quit as RBI Governor: Reports
"The presentation was made on Basel norms, MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector and Economic Capital framework. The RBI presentation was purely on the database," Vishwanathan said.
"After the presentation, discussion took place pointwise," the agency quoted another source as saying.
Asked whether there was any tension or a heated argument between the Centre and the RBI representatives, he said, "After seven hours of a high-level presentation, we discussed our agenda and finally after two hours the meeting ended in very cordial manner."
"We can say that speculation in the media for the last 15 to 20 days will stop now, but we can't say that the differences are over. The decisions taken were commonly agreed upon, but on some issues like Prompt Corrective Action (PCA), economic capital, where a committee will take a decision, there are still some differences," the source said.
Also read: RBI likely to soften PCA guidelines for Allahabad, Dena, and 9 other public sector banks
From the government side, Secretaries Department of Economic Affairs SC Garg and Department of Financial Services Rajiv Kumar gave presentations. The government nominees' presentation covered the overall current situation of the banking system, Non-Performing assets (NPAs), stressed assets and some sectoral issues like MSME's etc., according to the ANI report.
The RBI's representatives had their own views and queries on the presentation made by the government nominees. Similarly, the government nominees shared their own views and queries on the presentation made by the deputy governor.
The central bank board is to meet next on December 14.
