New RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra To Meet Bankers This Month

The new Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra will meet with private and state-owned banks this month, five bankers told NDTV Profit.

The meeting, which was initially scheduled to be on Jan. 16, has now been postponed and could likely be before the RBI policy next month, a public sector banker said.

While there is no specific agenda to this meeting, bankers said that the new governor wants to interact with the industry and possibly discuss the state of regulatory and monetary policy. This will be the first time that Malhotra will be formally interacting with banking officials since he swore in as the new governor in December.

This is a usual meeting that the RBI holds with public sector and private sector banks and large non-banking financial companies once in six months to take stock of where things are and what needs to be done together, another banker said.

This meeting will focus more on sharing issues both ways and concerns on compliance and business environment, the banker said, adding that the industry will also put forth its expectation.

Previous Governor Shaktikanta Das also held such meetings regularly with the industry.

Bankers are expecting some discussions to be held around four crucial draft norms. The central bank had released draft norms on liquidity coverage ratio, project finance, expected credit loss and banking subsidiaries business last year. However, banks are on a wait and watch mode and would be more interested in hearing from Malhotra.

Malhotra took over as RBI Governor on Dec. 11, a day after Shaktikanta Das stepped down, completing his six year tenure. Malhotra, who was secretary of Department of Revenue, comes with nearly 35 years of experience at various levels of the state and central government machinery.

In his tenure at the Ministry of Finance, Malhotra has been closely involved in drafting tax policy and goods and service tax reforms. He has also served as India’s alternate governor in the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, New Development Bank, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

After taking charge at the RBI, Malhotra held a press conference where he discussed that he will focus on technological innovation, financial inclusion, policy continuity and ensuring decision making, keeping public interest in mind.