In a first, RBI puts out minutes of its October central board meeting

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), for the first time, put out minutes of its October central board meeting, albeit with some information blacked out.

To enhance transparency, the central bank will continue to put out the minutes in the public domain in spirit of the Right to Information Act, after “after appropriately severing information that is permitted to be severed in accordance with the Act”.
 
Such minutes will be available within two weeks from the date of its confirmation in the next meeting of the central board and on being signed by the chairman in the same meeting, the RBI said in a statement on its website.

 

The PMC Bank crisis was not in the agenda of the meeting, but was discussed with the permission of the RBI governor, who is the chair of the board. Presumably, the agenda was set before the PMC Bank crisis came to light towards the end of September.
 
The minutes put out for public viewing pertains to the 579th meeting of the central board held in Chandigarh on October 11 last year.
 
While the minutes as such did not point to anything that has not been publicly disseminated by the RBI, a general view of the various push and pull can be gauged. The RBI’s central board is made of representatives from the central bank, from corporate industry, as well as from the government. While all work for a common goal of economic prosperity, there are some interesting viewpoints.

 
“A director presented his perspective on select industries viz. automobiles, real estate, steel, power and road transport. He was of the view that a concerted effort on the part of the government as well as various regulators is needed to improve the situation,” the minutes noted.
 
The board reviewed the macroeconomic developments, focused on issues related to financial markets, impact of monsoon on agriculture sector and prices, agriculture infrastructure and the external sector situation.
 
The board discussed in detail the current state of the financial sector “with special focus on the regulatory and supervisory architecture of commercial and co-operative banks as also NBFCs”.

 
While PMC Bank was discussed in relation to the framework of supervision of banks and other financial entities supervised by the central bank, the board was assured that the RBI has taken several measures to strengthen such aspects in the regulated entities.
 
The board also accepted a plethora of proposals, and review of various departments, proposed by various executive directors in the central bank.