Jaitley addresses boards of RBI, SEBI to discuss financial reforms

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is addressing the boards of THE Reserve Bank of India and Securities and Exchange Board of India today to discuss the feasability of introducing various financial sector reforms announced in the budget proposals for 2016-17.

The address of the finance minister comes in the backdrop of the government's announcement of meeting the current year's fiscal deficit target and sticking to the target of 3.5 percent.

The meeting addressed by the minister is a common ritual after the budget.

Jaitley, who presented the Budget on February 29, is likely to inform the boards of both the regulators about various financial sector reforms announced including proposal to amend the RBI Act for setting up of a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) which will fix the benchmark interest rate of the central bank and set inflation targets.

The agenda of the meeting is likely to focus on tackling the problem of stressed assets in the banking sector, Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs).

In the budget, Jaitley announced setting up of an electronic auction platform by Sebi for primary debt offer in regard to the capital market.

Budget 2016-17 also proposed to amend the SEBI Act 1992 in the coming year to provide for more members and benches of the Securities Appellate Tribunal.