Letter to BS: Onslaught on working of autonomous institutions is not wise

The ill-conceived demonetisation and poorly implemented Goods and Services Tax (GST) hit the economy very badly and the impact is still being felt in a number of sectors while inadequate employment has been generated. 

The government also did little to substantively reform public sector banks (PSBs). To bridge the fiscal deficit gap, it has extracted extraordinary dividend from profit-making public sector undertakings. 

Now this open rift with the Reserve Bank of India on the regulatory treatment of weak PSBs, dividend payable by the RBI and transfer of a major portion of the apex bank’s reserves to the government, moving payment system regulation from the RBI and putting political activists on the RBI Board are attempts to weaken the central bank financially and erode its operational autonomy. 

This does not augur well for the economy and the country. Any onslaught on the functioning of autonomous institutions is not wise.

Arun Pasricha, New Delhi

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