Ball set rolling on rupee float

Ball set rolling on rupee float

Our Bureaus / Mumbai/Delhi March 21, 2006

RBI appoints panel to draw road map.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today set the ball rolling on full capital account convertibility of the rupee by setting up a committee to chalk out a road map. The committee will begin work from May 1, 2006 and is expected to submit its report by July 31, 2006.

The committee, headed by SS Tarapore, former RBI deputy governor, will give recommendations after reviewing experiences gathered from various measures of capital account liberalisation in India so far.

A committee, led by Tarapore in 1997, had recommended a three-year period for complete convertibility, subject to meeting certain conditions.

The other members of the committee are Surjeet S Bhalla, MG Bhide, AV Rajwade, RH Patil and Ajit Ranade.

The announcement came a couple of hours after Finance Minister P Chidambaram told a CII National Council Meeting in New Delhi that his ministry and the RBI had discussed the issue, which was originally proposed to be announced in Budget 2006-07.