Jaitley to chair pre-Budget FSDC meet tomorrow

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will chair pre-Budget consultation meeting with financial sector regulators tomorrow and take stock of the economic situation.
Fiscal position, external sector environment, financial sector reforms, rising non-performing assets and regulatory issues are likely to figure in the meeting, sources said.
Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) is a high-powered body, whose members include RBI Governor, Sebi Chairman, IRDAI Chief and heads of other regulatory bodies. Besides, top Finance Ministry officials would be attending the meeting.
Apart from offering proposals for the Union Budget 2018 -19, the FSDC would also review the measures taken by the government and the RBI for dealing with the stressed assets and initiation of insolvency action against defaulting promoters.

The government today introduced in the Lok Sabha a bill to make amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to make resolution process easier for ailing firms.
Tightening rules to prevent errant founders from misusing the 11-month-old bankruptcy law to regain control, the government earlier this month barred promoters whose borrowings have been classified as non-performing for a year or more and that are unable to pay overdue amounts, including interest and charges.

Reversing the five quarters of slowing GDP growth, Indian economy expanded by 6.3 per cent in July-September on the back of a pick-up in manufacturing.
The gross domestic product (GDP) growth had hit a three- year low of 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2017-18. It was 7.5 per cent in the September quarter of 2016-17.

The Finance Ministry had yesterday said it would borrow an additional Rs 50,000 crore through issue of government securities to meet the expenditure needs.