Watal holds review meeting with senior officials

This was the first meeting that Watal had with other senior economic policymakers since becoming finance secretary

Ratan Watal, the new finance secretary held a meeting with Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and four other senior bureaucrats on Monday to review the economic and fiscal situation.

Such coordination-cum-review meetings will take place on a weekly basis, an official statement said.

This was the first mee-ting Watal had with other senior economic policymakers since becoming finance secretary.

The officials discussed issues related to better coo-rdination among all the dep-artments, especially in view of the annual Budgetary exercise that has already started. Also, pending policy issues against the backdrop of the ongoing global financial volatility.

"The finance secretary took stock of the work in progress and discussed pending policy issues in different departments. He called for expeditious action in such matters," said an official release.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, Financial Services Secret- ary Anjuly Chib Duggal and Disinvestment Secretary Aradhana Johri were present.

Das later tweeted: "Had meeting of all Secretaries in Finance Ministry. Took stock of economic and fiscal situation, policy issues, budget preparation, etc."

The interaction came ahead of Tuesday’s meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top business leaders, including Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani, Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry as well as bankers and economists, to discuss the global economic scenario.

Watal, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia, Das and Subramanian will be in attendance.

The meeting took place even as China’s growth slowdown and lingering worries over monsoon tormented markets on Monday when the benchmark BSE Sensex closed below the 25,000-mark for the first time in 15 months, losing 308 points in a day.

The rupee plunged 36 paise to close at a two-year low of 66.82 against the American currency on persistent dollar demand from banks and importers due to sustained foreign capital outflows, amid a sharp fall in equity markets.