RBI central board reviews economic situation, global developments

The meeting comes in the backdrop of banking crisis in US triggered by the SVB collapse and the Fed's adoption of a softer tone on future rate hikes in its latest policy statement

At its 601st meeting at Hyderabad on Friday, the central board of directors of the Reserve Bank of India reviewed the economic situation and associated challenges, including the impact of current global geopolitical developments.

“Further, the Board discussed the Reserve Bank’s activities during the current accounting year 2022-23. The Board also approved the budget for the accounting year 2023-24,” the RBI said via press release.

The meeting, chaired by RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, was attended by the central bank’s four deputy governors – Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao and T Rabi Sankar. Other directors of the central board including Satish Marathe, Sachin Chaturvedi, Pankaj Patel and Ravindra Dholakia were also present.

The meeting was also attended by Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and Vivek Joshi, Secretary, Department of Financial Services.

The latest meeting comes in the backdrop of the banking crisis in the US triggered by the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank. Amid the turmoil in the banking sector, the Federal Reserve adopted a softer tone with regard to future rate hikes in its latest policy statement.

In the wake of the US crisis, the RBI has recently reiterated the resilience of the Indian banking system, emphasising healthier parameters related to banks’ capital position and asset quality.

The Indian central bank has hiked the repo rate by a total of 250 basis points since May 2022 in order to tackle elevated domestic inflation.