Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, on Wednesday said that both monetary and fiscal policies in India were counter cyclical and had an accommodative stance. Das was speaking at the launch of veteran bureaucrat NK Singh’s new book ‘Portraits of Power’. Das also said that governance reforms in banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) were ownership agnostic.

“When I talk of reforms in banks and NBFCs, most people relate it to ownership of entities,” he said. He added that banks which have robust governance practices, control systems, risk assessments and that do not undertake a ‘smart’ accounting not only survive but grow in every crisis. “So today, irrespective of ownership of the banks, governance reforms are ownership agnostic,” he further said.

Das added that the government had undertaken several measures after Covid-19 outbreak. It first provided assistance to the vulnerable sections of the society and later to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). “And as far as Reserve Bank is concerned we are already in a monetary expansion mode and we have deployed instruments and tools which weren’t in the toolkit of RBI,” Das said. RBI Governor also said that regulator is constantly trying innovate with new instruments. “So today, both monetary policy and fiscal policy are counter cyclical and they are on an accommodative stance,” RBI Governor said.

The monetary policy committee (MPC) of RBI had earlier voted to keep repo rate unchanged at 4% and maintained accommodative stance. Shaktikanta Das also highlighted that India is at the doorstep of revival process, post Covid-19. The Governor also mentioned that many banks and NBFCS have been able to raise capital. However, he hoped that more lenders would be able to build capital buffers in the coming days.

Source : Times of India