Parliamentary panel report recommends 6-year term for RBI governor

In what could be a major step towards reforming the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a report prepared by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is learnt to have suggested a six-year term for the central bank governor and increasing the number of deputy governors from four to eight.

According to highly placed sources, the Parliamentary panel which is headed by BJP MP Jayant Sinha has prepared a comprehensive report on RBI, suggesting sweeping reforms in it.

The report is likely to be presented during the forthcoming Winter session of Parliament, which is scheduled to begin from December 7.

Sources said it is awaiting approval from Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Once the report is approved by the Speaker's office, it may be submitted in the lower house.

In a significant suggestion, the report is said to have recommended moving state-owned banks under RBI's purview.

Public sector banks are currently governed through the department of financial services.

The report is learnt to have suggested a six-year term for the RBI Governor from the existing three years.

Also, once the Governor's tenure comes to an end, he or she won't be appointed to any other constitutional post after that, the report has recommended.

The panel has also been learnt to have suggested increasing the number of deputy governors from existing four to eight.

Positions below that of a deputy governor can be filled through lateral entry, the Parliamentary panel is said to have suggested in its report.

It is also learnt to have suggested creation of an independent debt management authority in line with international practices.

--IANS

ans/pgh